A Calculated Risk
by Pengping
Summary: The Romulans have long fought with the Federation and its Vulcan citizens. Now however, Centurion Bochra of the Romulan Empire has to find a traitor from within that destroyed Tomalak's ship. To do that he has to work together with a Vulcan member of the Federation. The search for the traitor takes him to the highest levels of the Empire, and the truth about his Vulcan "ally."
1. Deleted Scene

**Star Trek Next Generation Season 3 Episode 7: "The Enemy":**

 _*"_ The Enemy _" involves Lt. Comdr. Geordi La Forge being forced to work together with the Romulan Centurion Bochra on the planet Galorndon Core in order to leave the planet. Bochra has been beamed aboard_ Enterprise _with La Forge and has informed Tomalak that while he gave the Enterprise crew no information, they were not responsible for the crash nor did they harm him. Tomalak has agreed to stand down hostilities, and La Forge and Worf are currently escorting Bochra to the transporter so he can return to his ship.*_

* * *

La Forge listened to the steps of Bochra and Worf, all he could do without his visor, but he Bochra's steps had already begun to steady. Now that he was free from that planet's insane atmosphere it seemed his nervous system was recovering. He found it a little odd, but La Forge was glad Bochra was already recovering. Even without his visor, La Forge could guess from the way Worf's steps sounded that he was not happy with being so near a Romulan.

Mercifully, the three entered Transporter Room 1 with no mishaps. Worf stood by the doorway as Bochra managed to walk up the steps to the transporter pad, and though the stress pained him, Bochra did not show it before the Klingon.

"Worf, what did you do to him?" Someone asked, and Bochra realized there was already someone in the room.

He was surprised that the person seemed to be scolding the Klingon and glanced back. The operator of the teleport station was glaring at Worf with an annoyed expression was a female... human? She wasn't in a Starfleet uniform whoever she was.

"I did not harm him," Worf retorted almost defensively to the female.

The human, who was about Bochra's age physically, crossed her arms and fixed Worf with a glare.

"I did not," Worf repeated.

"Oh no," she said in a voice akin to a taunt, "Because the Romulans and the Klingons obviously get along so well. You get along with the Romulans even better than my Vulcan kin do after all."

Worf did not appreciate her sarcasm, and La Forge smiled.

"He really didn't Kaylee," La Forge assured her.

The female – Kaylee evidently – glanced at La Forge with some surprise. "Oh? What did?"

"The atmosphere of Galorndon Core," La Forge tightened his hold on his VISOR. "It's hostile to nerves and electronics."

"Is that why you're not wearing you VISOR?" Kaylee asked curiously and tilted her head at the piece of metal in his hand.

"You're Vulcan?" Bochra interrupted, surprised to hear that.

Kaylee didn't look much like a Vulcan. Her hair was blood-black and so long it came down almost to her back. Although she did have the tipped ears and slanted eyebrows of a Vulcan her skin was too pale, and her eyes were not dark brown or black but a bright blue-silver.

"Half," Kaylee clarified. "My mother was human, I was raised on Vulcan though with a Vulcan. I'm Kaylee, and you are?"

"Centurion Bochra," Bochra introduced himself.

He tried to bow slightly, but the motion strained his scrambled nerves and he almost fell off the platform.

"Be careful Centurion," Kaylee cautioned in a light humored tone, "before you get a concussion on top of everything else."

"You do not suppress your emotions?" Bochra asked curiously, surprised when he realized that her words were not monotone.

Kaylee shook her head, "I take after my mother in that regard. Although I keep my emotions under control, I've found that in most circumstances they're more useful to me when they're not suppressed."

"What does your father think of that?" Bochra wondered, knowing that if her mother was human then her father was Vulcan.

"I don't know," Kaylee replied honestly and looked down at the controls of the station. "I've never met him and I was too young when my mother died to remember her."

Bochra scolded himself for his carelessness, "I did not know."

Kaylee shrugged as if she wasn't the least bit perturbed and continued entering the coordinates of Tomalak's ship. "There is no need to be sorry as you didn't know. The only reason you would need to be sorry was if you knew and said that anyway."

"You are not going to use that," Worf interrupted loudly and raised a hand when he realized she was working on the console.

Kaylee looked up at Worf in irritation, tapping her fingers on the console. "Why not?"

"You are a member of the civilian population, and it is against protocol," Worf ordered.

Kaylee fixed him with a scything glare that held far too much emotion to be Vulcan. "You are the only Klingon I have met that does not know how to smile. _I_ know how to smile and I was raised on _Vulcan_. Lighten up, I know what I'm doing."

La Forge lowered his head as their banter deepened and muttered, "Here we go again."

He must have guessed Bochra was giving him a curious look because he emphasized with, "you might as well get comfortable. This is gonna take a while."

Bochra didn't understand, but he had a feeling he would.

"Where is O'Brian?" Worf demanded.

"I don't know," Kaylee sighed in the same exasperated tone. "The Chief was called away to look at something. He told me to watch the station. Just because I didn't go to the Academy doesn't mean I don't know how to use a transporter Worf. I've used one before."

"Step aside," Worf ordered with a slight shooing motion. "I will use the station."

"I am not letting you teleport me Klingon," Bochra objected, stepping off the transporter pad. "You'd just as soon teleport me into open space."

Worf glared at him now.

"Okay," La Forge voiced when he realized this wasn't going anywhere, "I'll teleport him."

"Your VISOR's not working," Kaylee pointed out.

"My VISOR is fine," La Forge promised.

"Then why aren't you wearing it?" Kaylee asked in slight amusement, knowing she was going to win this argument.

"Uh… The interface isn't fine," La Forge admitted.

"Then you can't do it, so I will," Kaylee stepped up to the console.

Worf put an arm in front of her, and repeated. "You are a civilian."

"Bochra doesn't want you to teleport him Worf and La Forge can't, so by method of elimination I have to do it." Kaylee said and ducked under his arm to get closer to the controls again.

The communicator chimed just as Worf opened his mouth to say something and Kaylee, who was the closest, tapped it on.

"Is there a reason why Bochra has not been returned to his ship?" Captain Jean-Luc Picard asked through the comm.

All three of the _Enterprise_ 's members cringed at the sharpness in his voice, and Bochra sat on the edge of the teleportation pad, watching the situation unfold.

"Worf won't let teleport Bochra because I'm a civilian," Kaylee responded smartly before Worf could stop her, and Worf simmered.

"Kaylee," Picard sighed as if he was not the least bit surprised she was involved. "Where's O'Brian?"

"Taking care of something else, Captain," Kaylee told him. "Bochra doesn't want Worf to teleport him and without his VISOR La Forge can't, so tell Worf to just let me do it."

Picard massaged his forehead while beside him on the bridge, Riker lowered his head and smiled at Kaylee's antics. Why was it she was always involved in things like this?

"Worf," Picard ordered shortly. "Let her."

"Sir," Worf tried to argue. "It is against protocol."

"Just do it," Picard repeated and shut off the communication.

"If I may?" Kaylee asked Worf politely and waved a hand towards the controls.

Worf almost growled as he stepped back and let Kaylee back to the controls, and muttered under his breath, "Eaglet."

Bochra was surprised to hear a Klingon using Romulan slang, and looked at the Klingon curiously as he forced himself to stand.

"What does the slang 'Eaglet' mean in your culture?" Kaylee asked Bochra without stopping from her work.

Bochra was still surprised and answered truthfully. "The Eagle is our symbol, and Eaglet is a term for a young eagle. It's usually used affectionately, but can be degrading as it normally describes children or cadets."

"That makes sense," Kaylee said cryptically, and then exemplified when she glanced up and saw Bochra was still confused. "The other children on Vulcan gave me that for a nickname since I don't suppress my emotions like Romulans don't. Other have picked up on the habit."

She didn't look at Worf as she spoke, but it was clear he was part of the _others_ faction. Bochra understood, but was surprised that a Vulcan didn't take more offense at being compared to a Romulan. It was like the human La Forge who was trustworthy. This ship, _Enterprise_ , had a very interesting crew.

"All right, step back so I can teleport you to your ship before Tomalak calls and asks where you are to," Kaylee told Bochra in the same light-humored voice as if she would find that disastrous situation amusing.

Bochra tried to take a step back, but his legs unexpectedly collapsed. La Forge had been sitting on the edge of the platform next to him working with his VISOR, but now dropped the VISOR as Bochra fell on top of him and they both landed in a heap on the floor below the transporter. Kaylee winced at the sound when they crashed, and ran over to them. Worf took a step forward as well, but it was clear they were both fine so he stayed where he was.

Bochra couldn't believe he was looking so weak before a Klingon, and picked up La Forge's VISOR as he stood. He tapped it against La Forge's arm, and the human took it back with a nod. There was no telling how long he would stay on his feet this time so as La Forge helped him back onto the platform again Kaylee returned to the console. Once La Forge stepped off of it, she set her hand on the three bars to activate it.

"Jolan true," she told Bochra, testing out her pronunciation as she swiped upward.

"Jolan true," Bochra responded instinctively.

He gave a start that a Vulcan like Kaylee was willing to speak Rihan, the Romulan's language, but was unable to respond before the teleport froze him and his vanished from sight. There was no doubt about it though, _Enterprise_ was an odd ship.

Once the teleport was completed and Bochra back on his ship, Worf glared at Kaylee. "Why are you so friendly with him?"

"Why can't I be?" Kaylee challenged. "He helped La Forge, right?"

"He did," La Forge said carefully, not wanting to get involved in one of Kaylee and Worf's famous debates.

"Just because he is an enemy to Klingons does not make him an enemy to me," Kaylee promised. "The Romulans are the cousins of the Vulcans after all. I have no feud with him."

Chief O'Brien picked probably the best moment to enter, and the argument was halted when the door to the transporter room hissed open. He could tell instantly that Kaylee and Worf were facing off yet again.

"Hello Chief," Kaylee greeted and broke off the argument. "Worf, won't Picard want you on the bridge when he escorts Tomalak's ship back to the Neutral Zone?"

Picard did and that meant he had to stop his argument. Worf stormed out, and Kaylee bit the corner of her lip so she wouldn't laugh at how cartoonishly upset and stiff Worf looked.

"Come on La Forge," she said instead with a note of laughter in her voice. "With the Chief back I'm relieved of duty so I can take you to Sickbay."

La Forge admitted that might be nice since his VISOR still wasn't working and he hated accidentally walking into walls or doors. He stood and the two of the walked out.

As they left, Kaylee called out over her shoulder, "bye Chief."

"Bye," O'Brian repeated, confused and left to wonder exactly what he had missed.

* * *

 **Ah, the tension between Romulan and Klingon. I know this doesn't look like it's going anywhere but bear with me. The Romulans are my favorite species and my stories focus on them. I also like Bochra, so this is a Bochra story with known Romulans like Tomalak, and OC's. NO SLASH! I promise there is no slash between Bochra and OC's. Never fear.**


	2. Three Months Later

Centurion Bochra raised his disruptor and nodded to his friend in the holodeck with him to start the simulation. His friend Lavok did so, and a silver sphere about the size of a baseball appeared in midair. Bochra began to shoot at it, hitting it every time as it moved around and tried to make him miss.

After a few seconds of getting shot it shattered into three smaller orbs. Bochra continued to try and shoot all of them, but now his shots were going a little wild. His accuracy dropped dramatically.

After ten seconds (human time) the simulation ended. Bochra lowered his disruptor with a huff. Target practice was standard for all crewmembers and required for members of security such as himself, but Bochra found it irritating. He could hit the target in real life fine, just not that little silver sphere that loved to taunt him so much.

"Well," Lavok told him with a sigh, "you got perfect accuracy for Level One. Level Two was 47%. Last time it was 42% so you are getting better."

"It's the multiple targets," Bochra muttered, "I keep trying to hit all of them so I hit none of them."

In this little simulation game, you had ten seconds to hit the target. If you hit it enough it shattered into three orbs and the difficulty moved to Level Two. In theory, if your aim was still good enough you could score enough hits and it would shatter again into six targets – Level Three. Bochra had never reached Level Three before his time was up. He ejected the powerpack of blanks and slapped in a round of live shots to his disruptor.

"I hope you're not going to try shooting it again," Lavok asked warily when he saw Bochra do that.

"No," Bochra snapped and shoved his disruptor into its holster on his belt.

"Attack the target please," Lavok said and held up his hands in surrender, "not me. I'm just an Engineer, and there's no way I'd win against you."

Sorry," Bochra muttered under his breath as the two of them exited the holodeck.

"I am trying to help," Lavok added when Bochra didn't sound sorry.

Bochra sighed as his friend fell in step with him. "I know you are."

Lavok let them walk in quiet down the halls for a few seconds before speaking again. "You can't keep blaming yourself for Patahk. He agreed to go on the scouting mission into enemy territory just like you did. He knew the risks of what would happen if the _Pi_ was discovered."

"Leave it be," Bochra warned.

Patahk was Bochra's oldest friend, and the two of them had been like brothers. He had died at Galorndon Core though and Bochra had lived. Why had he lived while Patahk died?

Lavok reluctantly fell quiet.

"Jolan true," Bochra said somewhat sharply in goodbye when they reached an intersection.

Bochra was heading for the mess hall for some food, and Lavok, as Chief Engineer, needed to get back to Engineering.

"Jolan true," Lavok repeated softly as the friends parted ways.

Once they parted, his friend's troubles faded away as Lavok turned his thoughts back to his duties. His Engineers had been having trouble stabilizing the flow of the plasma conduits these past few days, and Lavok knew it was because of the modifications they had gotten to their cloaking device. In order to test the upgrade, Tomalak had received orders to patrol the Neutral Zone.

Once he reached Engineering, Lavok entered and went to the control panel to try and isolate the problem again. Those techies at spaceport had to have crossed a plasma line or something because the flow was still wrong. He realized in exasperation that the plasma ratio was thinning. Like all Romulans Lavok was eager to have a cloaking device that would allow a ship to use its weapons while under cloak, but these current upgrades weren't going to get them anywhere close to that.

One of his engineers was already looking at the problematic port, and Lavok walked to him just as the engineer crawled out of the panel and sat up on his knees.

"Have any success?" Lavok asked him as he approached.

The engineer gave a start at Lavok's voice and whipped to face him. Once he realized it was just Lavok he relaxed. Lavok recognized this as one of the new batch of new recruits they had picked up a month ago although he couldn't quite remember his name.

"What?" The engineer asked.

"Did you have success?" Lavok repeated.

The engineer shook his head, "no sir."

"Let me take a look," Lavok offered.

"No!" The engineer replied quickly, surprising Lavok with his refusal. "Uh, there's no need. I fixed the regulator here, but the problem's in the wiring somewhere else."

"Let me take a look," Lavok ordered and kneeled down so he could get under the panel.

"That's really not necessary," the engineer promised nervously.

"At ease," Lavok ordered lightheartedly. "I won't demote you if there's something wrong."

He ducked under the panel, musing that some of these newbies were so skittish. As he inspected the circuitry and had to admit that the newbie had done a good job. The newbie had forgotten to run a shift gauge over the Delta amplifiers though.

"Hand me a shift gauge," Lavok told the newbie held out his hand but no tool appeared.

He paused and then ducked out of the panel. The engineer he had been speaking to was gone. In fact, he wasn't even in engineering anymore. Lavok gave the room a bizarre look and reached for a shift gauge himself only to find that it was missing from the kit.

"Wonderful," he sighed, "the techies crosswire this ship and know the other engineers can't put their tools back."

He stood, and swiped the tool he needed from another kit until the missing shift gauge could be located. Tool in hand he returned to his perch and ducked inside the conduit. Something glittered inside. Lavok narrowed his eyes as he looked closer, and gave a start when he saw the missing shift gauge.

It was jammed between two circuits. Electrical current flowed through the metal item, scorching the delicate circuitry it touched. An artificial current had been created where there should be none and it was being sent to the plasma, gradually raising its temperature. The other circuit it was touching was the safeguard and with it disabled, no alarms were going off as the temperature rose closer to combustion.

Lavok reached a hand in to remove the tool, and then thought the better and decided to shut off the current first. He stood straight as he scooched out of his position and finally looked over at the DataPADD the young engineer had been using. For some reason, the volume was turned off so it couldn't sound an alarm. It was warning him of the temperature.

He looked at it and then shot to his feet, "shut down the engines, full stop! Now! Turn off the main power! We have to cool down the plasma!"

The ship had plasma lines running through the walls through most of the D'derdix. When the plasma lines reached combustion and ignited it made quite a lightshow.

* * *

"Sir," Data alerted Captain Picard. "I am detecting an energy spike on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone."

"Same here," Wesley Crusher called out. "Weird, it looks like a ship just exploded."

"Incorrect," Data objected. "There is a Romulan D'derdix. It has been crippled. Its main core is precarious. The ship will self-destruct."

Picard frowned, "lifesigns?"

"113," Data told him, "all Romulan."

"Did they send out a distress signal?" Picard asked.

"No," Wesley said, "I doubt they had time."

"Sir," Data added, "it is the IRW Terix, last Captioned by Tomalak."

Tomalak… Picard frowned. "Change course to the ship but don't cross the Neutral Zone. Let's see if they ask for help and keep scanning."

* * *

Tomalak was laying on the floor of the bridge, stunned from the explosion. He raised his head and cringed as he tried to move an arm. The left side of his face was numb, and he couldn't see out of his left eye. Slowly, he forced himself to sit up, shoving a metal support beam off of him

"Report!" He ordered the bridge.

There was no reply. The dust settled enough for Tomalak to see that everyone else on the bridge was unconscious or worse. He pulled himself to his feet with the aid of his chair and hit the communicator.

"Sickbay, we have injured. Sickbay?" There was only static. "Engineering report. What just happened?" Nothing but static.

That explosion must have knocked out internal communication. He ignored the cloaking device and limped over to the engineering panel. There was a body on it and he shoved it off, wishing he could be gentler but not able to with one arm. Engineering said that the plasma had overheated.

"No," Tomalak whispered, "don't you dare."

He slammed his hand on the console. His ship was still dying. Tomalak grabbed a spare data crystal and plugged it in, ordering the computer to download the information about the explosion. Then he limped back over to the comm controls and sent up a distress beacon.

"Sir," Data announced, "A distress beacon from the D'derdix has been activated on all frequencies."

"Open a frequency to the Romulans," Picard straightened and readied for a video comm.

"Frequency open," Data informed him.

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the _USS Enterprise_ to Romulan ship, do you need assistance?"

There was only static. Picard frowned and looked to Data.

"The channel is open sir," Data assured him, "it seems their communications are down however."

Picard thought for a moment. Entering the Neutral Zone would bring trouble, and these were Romulans. They were also lives and that needed help.

"Adjust course to intercept the ship," Picard ordered. "Mr. Crusher, inform Mrs. Crusher that she's going to have wounded."

"Yes sir," Wesley repeated, sending his mother the message.

The ship made quick time to the crippled D'derdix.

"Keep us at a safe distance in case the ship explodes," Picard told Data, "and hail the Captain again. Tell him we're here to help. Ask him what assistance he requires."

Data relayed the message, "no response Captain."

"Hold on," Wesley spoke up quickly, "I'm getting a response." He boosted the volume.

"… ship… unstable… any assistance…"

Picard frowned at the scattered reply.

"… any assistance authorized…" the Romulan repeated.

"Tell him we acknowledge," Picard ordered Wesley, "and that we're sending over medical teams."

Wesley sent it, but he wasn't sure if the Romulan acknowledged.

"Sir," Worf put in, "is that wise?"

"I think I agree with Worf," Commander Riker added.

"Look at the ship Commander," Picard waved a hand at the crippled Roumulan ship that filled the screen. "I don't think they're a threat although I acknowledge your response. Worf, prepare security procedures."

"Medical team is prepared to transport," one of the bridge crew called out.

"Have them armed and accompanied by guards," Picard told them, "and then let them beam over."

* * *

 **Tomalak might not be a good guy but his ship just got blown up. It was indeed that engineer that sabotaged the ship and unfortunately, the only witness was in Engineering when Engineering exploded so I don't know how much help Lavok will be. On top of all that, now Tomalak has to be rescued by** ** _Picard_** **.**


	3. Questions

Sickbay was awhirl. It was so busy that Dr. Crusher didn't pay attention who she was handing the medkits to as she prepped for an influx of patients. Kaylee Dare technically did have medic training, so she didn't feel guilty as she swiped a medkit and raced to one of the transporter rooms.

O'Brian didn't mention anything as he beamed her, two other medics, and three guards onto the Romulan ship. They materialized near the rows of rooms. The D'derdix had plasma conduits running in the walls of the rooms. Most they couldn't open since the explosion had warped the metal, but her tricorder said there was no one alive.

Kaylee tuned her tricorder and scanned around. One of the rooms nearby did have a life sign inside. She nodded to the door and the guard hit the button to open it. It opened it a crack and then stopped. The guard grabbed the edge of the door and dragged it open enough for Kaylee to slip inside.

"Hey wait!" The security member with her called out.

Kaylee ignored him. The room within was a mess and she ducked under a fallen support beam. Her tricorder registered the lifesign to the left and she turned and saw him.

"I found you," she said triumphantly and knelt by his side.

Her tricorder warned her that his lifesigns were fluctuating. Kaylee tssked. This Romulan needed medical attention now.

She tapped her communicator pin to contact the Enterprise. "Enterprise, two to beam-"

The transporter started beaming her and the Romulan over, clouding her sight with sapphire sparkles. After a few seconds, she materialized on one of the Enterprises transporter pads. "What the?"

"Get off the pad!" O'Brian called over to her. "We've got plenty more to beam back."

"Uh, um okay," Kaylee stood as medical attendants ran forward and quickly moved the Romulan off the pad. She stepped off herself, and O'Brian started getting ready to beam more back over. "What did I miss?"

"The Romulan ship is going to self-destructive," O'Brian explained. "We're beaming all life forms over."

So she didn't even have to use the pin, Kaylee sighed to herself.

* * *

"Raise the shields!" Picard ordered.

He gripped the armrests on his chairs as the D'derdix exploded. The _Enterprise_ jolted from the explosion, but then settled down.

Picard allowed himself to take a breath. "Did we get everyone off?"

It was a moment before Data responded. "All of the _Enterprise_ crew has been recovered however there were still 32 Romulans onboard."

That was not the answer Picard wanted, but at least he had gotten all of his people off. "Status of the Romulans?"

"Their disruptors have been neutralized," Data reported, "and they are currently being moved to Sickbay."

"Contact Dr. Crusher," Picard said.

"Contacting," Wesley said.

Dr. Crusher was just administering a hypospray to one of her patients and she looked up at the call. Quickly, she passed the hypospray to another doctor and answered.

"Sickbay here," She called and went back to what she was doing.

"What is the status of the Roumlans?" Picard's voice filtered through.

"Injured," Dr. Crusher simplified with a sigh. "I'm working on it, but there are a lot. I'm going to need blood transfusions from the crew."

"I'll alert them," Picard promised her.

"Thanks," Dr. Crusher sighed.

She noticed something from the corner of her eye and glanced over to see Kaylee standing near one of the patients. "Kaylee what are you doing?"

Kaylee was holding a tricorder and scanning one of the patients and didn't look up as she responded, "taking readings. I might not know what to do with the readings, but I can take them and save you some time."

"I've got to go," Dr. Crusher told Picard as she shut off the communicator and stalked over to Kaylee.

"I'm not giving anyone any drugs," Kaylee told her quickly.

"Fortunate for you," Dr. Crusher scolded. "Now shoo, find somewhere else to be."

Kaylee sighed and muttered fine, as she set the Tricorder she had been using into Dr. Crusher's outstretched hand. Dr. Crusher let her stalk away, but she didn't get far before being distracted by shouting.

"Hey!" One of the nurses shouted, "Hold him down!"

Kaylee and Dr. Crusher both turned. A Romulan was struggling against two of the doctors while one of them tried to give him hypospray. Dr. Crusher recognized the Romulan as Commander Tomalak, and Kaylee ran over to him to try and help. She stepped around the struggling doctors and raised a hand over Tomalak's eyes as she had been taught.

"Relax," she ordered him, "forget the pain."

Tomalak looked at her, eyes glazing over as her telepathy entered his mind. Because of Kaylee's Vulcan blood and upbringing she had been trained in basic telepathy like all her kin, and had been getting extra lessons from Deanna Troi. Her hand started shaking from the effort, and Kaylee silently cursed her human heritage that diluted her ability.

It was working though and Tomalak was calming. The two holding Tomalak hesitated, and then one of them quickly gave him a Hypospray to put him to sleep. They breathed in relief once it was administered, and Kaylee stopped her telepathy. She felt drained from the effort, and one of the doctors grabbed her arm so she didn't fall. Kaylee nodded thanks, and was able to stand on her own after a few seconds.

"See," she told Dr. Crusher with a smile. "I can help."

Dr. Crusher sighed. There truly was no way to win against her.

"Emmeline," Tomalak said as he started struggling against his restraints again. "Emmi, what are you doing here?"

The smile on Kaylee's lips faded. She slowly turned. Tomalak was looking straight at her.

"What?" She whispered.

"Emmi," Tomalak repeated as he held out a hand towards Kaylee shakily. "Emmi you're here. Delron gets to say I-told-you-so."

The doctors hesitated, braced to jump on him again, but Tomalak wasn't thrashing anymore.

Kaylee stepped closer. "What are you talking about?"

The drugs picked that moment to kick in and Tomalak's eyes closed. His hand fell back onto the bed as consciousness slipped away. Kaylee couldn't move.

Dr. Crusher stepped closer and touched her arm, realizing that whatever Tomalak had been talking about had paralyzed Kaylee. "Kaylee? The drugs made him hallucinate. You know that."

"I know," Kaylee whispered.

Dr. Crusher realized that it wasn't Tomalak that scared her, but the name he had mentioned. "Who was Emmeline?"

"My mother," Kaylee said after a moment. "I've always been told I looked like her. She died when I was only a few weeks old. How does he know my mother?"

She looked up at Dr. Crusher, unable to comprehend what she had just heard. Dr. Crusher wasn't able to say anything. This surprised her as well.

"I think you can handle this," Kaylee said quickly as she brushed by the doctors and nearly ran out of sickbay.

Dr. Crusher let her leave sickbay, and delved back into the task of taking care of the Romulans. She didn't have the luxury to be able to leave her post and see what was troubling Kaylee.

Kaylee briskly walked down the hallway. She knew almost nothing about her mother, so how did some random Romulan know her? He hadn't just recognized that Kaylee looked like her mother, but he'd called her mother a nickname – Emmi – as if they had been friends. How could her mother have been friends with a Romulan captain?

She turned a corner and jumped back as she nearly crashed into three people. Two of the Enterprise crew were helping an injured Romulan to sickbay. There was a large piece of metal shrapnel embedded between two of his lower ribs that went straight through his side. The Romulan looked up dazedly.

"The Eaglet of Vulcan is it," he slurred.

"Bochra," Kaylee recognized, a little surprised until she remembered that Bochra was one of Tomalak's crew.

She step aside and let the crew hustle the half-conscious Romulan to sickbay. Kaylee understood why Bochra knew her name since they had met each other before, but what about her mother? Her mother was a science officer of the Federation who had later fallen in love with some Vulcan who Kaylee didn't even know the name of. After her mother's death, a Vulcan woman named Saavak had adopted her. Saavak was stationed aboard the _Enterprise_ , so Kaylee was as well. Nowhere in what she knew of her family was the word "Romulan" mentioned.

What was she missing? Obviously, she was missing something. She should speak to Saavak and ask her how a Romulan captain could know her Emmeline, and who was this Delron he had mentioned?

Saavak was in Engineering right now, so Kaylee should get to Engineering. Civilians weren't normally allowed in there, but Kaylee's edict memory and telepathic talents had helped her slide by a few rules before. Besides, she really wasn't in a mood to take no for an answer. How could a random Romulan know more about Kaylee's mother then she did? Briskly, she changed courses and paged a turbolift. After a few seconds the doors opened and she entered.

"Engineering," she told the computer.

It chimed in recognition and started moving. She was not in a very good mood when she did get to Engineering. When she stepped off the turbolift, La Forge tried to stop her, but she gave him a truly scything look. Then she remembered that a glare would work on La Forge, who was blind, so she opted for vocals.

"Step aside La Forge," the scything look in Kaylee's eyes translated nicely to her voice.

"Kaylee, you know civilians aren't allowed down here," he held his hands in surrender.

"I need to speak to Saavak _now_ ," Kaylee snapped. "I'm not going away until I do, so do not make me put you in sickbay. It's quite full already."

La Forge sighed. "Let me get her, but stay here out of the way."

Kaylee crossed her arms and La Forge quickly retreated to track down her foster mother. Before long, Saavak was coming towards Kaylee although there was no sign of La Forge. That was probably going to be good for him.

"What is it?" Saavak asked emotionlessly. "You are aware you are not allowed down here."

"Don't worry," Kaylee promised with a slight biting tone. "I got that. Who was Tomalak to my mother?"

"What?" Saavak asked. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to process the question.

"Tomalak is one of the Romulans onboard the _Enterprise_ since his ship blew up," Kaylee explained tartly. "He was drugged and he mistook me for my mother. How does he know her?"

"Your mother was a science officer," Saavak tried to dodge. "She did field time. Likely she crossed paths with him."

"If that is true then how did he know her well enough to call her Emmie?" Kaylee said a little too loudly from the few looks it drew. She swallowed and looked down. "Tomalak called her a nickname like they were close friends, and he mentioned something about Delron. Is that a name?"

"I don't know very much about Emmeline's personal life," Saavak said. Her words and her body language did not match up.

"Vulcans normally don't lie because they make terrible liars," Kaylee warned.

Saavak gave her a sharp look.

"Are you going to say you didn't lie?" Kaylee asked tauntingly. "I have emotions so that does give me an advantage in reading you. I did wear down my abilities when I touched that Romulan's mind, but I still some energy left."

Saavak's eyes widened in what could only be surprise and grabbed Kaylee's arm with a Vulcan strong grip. "You did a mind meld with a Romulan?"

"No," Kaylee defended, trying to jerk her arm free. "I just dulled the pain a bit so he'd stop thrashing and let the doctors dose him."

"Your emotions are unbalanced enough with melding minds with a Romulan barbarian," Saavak relaxed her grip and let Kaylee pull her arm free. "The mind meld goes both ways you know. You enter their mind and they enter yours. Your personalities merge and it never truly fades. There is always some fragment of their memories in you."

"I know that," Kaylee said in exasperation. "Don't worry. I'm not stupid. I just want some answers. You know something about my mother and you won't tell me."

"What little I know is not concrete," Saavak said at last. "It is in the past and should be left to rest."

"Why don't you tell me and let me decide for myself," Kaylee said.

Saavak didn't answer.

Kaylee drew herself up. "Fine," she said as she stalked away. "I'll go to the source myself."

Tomalak was still drugged up. If he thought Kaylee was Emmeline once then maybe he'd think so again.

* * *

 **I never mentioned Kaylee was telepathic before so sorry if that's a surprise. She is half-Vulcan, but it doesn't guarantee telepathy. My bad.**

 **Kaylee was raised on Vulcan with Vulcans. You know how much Vulcans and Romulans hate each other, so having a random Romulan know more about her own family then she does, bugs her. Her foster mother knows the real story and she really doesn't want Kaylee to find out - not that Kaylee cares what her surrogate wants.**

 **This moment kind of reminds me of the** ** _Thor 2011_** **movie when Loki finds out he's adopted. Nothing fits in place anymore. Does anyone get that reference?**


	4. Aonra

Bochra wasn't sure where he was when he finally left the shadow world of unconsciousness. His chest hurt and his breath was painful, and when he tried to open his eyes it was painfully bright. The pain was unpleasant but Bochra clung to the grounding sensation, and the simple knowledge that he could only feel pain if he was alive.

His memories were a blur. He'd been working on target practice with Lavok to handle his frustration, and afterwards they had parted ways. Lavok had gone to Engineering and Bochra had gone to the mess to get some Viinerine. Bochra had gotten his food, and then… then what?

All of his memories after that were blurred, but he thought he remembered the ship jolting and almost falling out of his seat. An explosion? An explosion!

The implications of that thought jolted Bochra awake regardless of the harsh light. He sat up far too quickly, and almost blacked out again. Desperately he held his breath while his vision acclimated. Bochra had to see where he was. What had happened to the ship after the explosion?

It became evidentially clear as he looked frantically around that wherever he was it was not aboard his ship. Was it enemies? Had the ship been attacked? What about Tomalak?

Bochra was in a medical ward of some sort, and there were other Romulans around him. He recognized them as his crewmates, and there were others around them. Leftover adrenaline from the explosion made Bochra leap out of the bed as one of the other people tried to get close to him.

He pushed the person back and staggered as he tried to take a step forward, vision spinning from the movement. Bochra shook his head, but it had the opposite effect that he expected and his vision swam again, equilibrium off kilter. Someone else ran forward in front of him, falling into a fighting stance. It was a Vulcan fighting stance, and that did not help calm him.

It didn't look much like a Vulcan though with long blood-black hair, and too pale skin. The appearance seemed familiar, and after a few seconds Bochra remembered where he had seen it.

"Kaylee?" He asked hoarsely, throat sore.

"Yes," Kaylee responded cautiously.

If that was Kaylee, then did that mean he was on _Enterprise_? Bochra stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed he had been resting in before he fell to the ground, and Kaylee cautiously relaxed her fighting stance. He lowered his head to try and get some relief from the bright light while he tried to figure out what had happened. Now he was able to remember being helped walk to sickbay by two of Enterprise's crew.

Dr. Crusher stood in to one side cautiously, but Kaylee nodded to her that it was alright. Bochra seemed to have calmed down from the shock of having his ship blown up. It was only logical that he thought they had been attacked because ships normally did not blow up on their own.

Once again, her presence was helpful. A few hours ago after her surrogate Saavak had refused to tell her how her mother could possibly have known Tomalak, Kaylee had returned to sickbay to ask Tomalak. He had been in surgery though, and she would not be able to speak to him for quite some time. Since they were short-staffed, one of the nurses had dragged Kaylee into helping the wounded. It was lucky now that they had.

"What's going on?" Bochra whispered. "The _Terix_ , what happened to it?"

"If _Terix_ was the name of Tomalak's ship then I'm afraid it's been destroyed," Kaylee informed him in a somewhat level and gentle voice.

Bochra looked up, and then back down while that sank in.

" _Enterprise_ received a distress call from Tomalak, and came to help," Kaylee continued to explain. "We managed to get most of the survivors off the ship before it blew up completely. You're one of the first ones to wake up."

"I see," Bochra whispered after several long seconds. "What has become of the captain?"

"Tomalak's in surgery right now," Kaylee glanced over to where that was, wishing that he wasn't so she could talk to him. "It's hard to tell with surgery, but I don't believe his injuries are severe enough to kill him."

Bochra let himself relax a few degrees, but that didn't answer the rest of his questions. He looked around the sickbay again at the people from his ship. They were being tended to and were safe, not being injured and he suddenly felt very embarrassed for assuming otherwise.

"You better lie back down and get some rest," Kaylee warned him, "before Dr. Crusher decides you're moving around too much and sedates you. Don't think she won't do it either, she will."

"That sounds a lot like our chief doctor," Bochra sighed and laid back down before said threat occurred.

He was on a Federation ship, in Federation ship no doubt, at the mercy of the Federation who might have had something to do with _Terix_ 's destruction, but he still felt relatively safe. _Enterprise_ and its crew had proven it was not totally untrustworthy during the disaster at Galorndon Core. They had pleaded for peace and returned him to _Terix_ with no deception or attempt to harm him, and LaForge had proven possible to work with. _Terix_ 's crew could be in the custody of a Federation ship that they hadn't dealt with before.

Kaylee was inwardly surprised that Bochra was calming down so quickly as she would have thought the knowledge they were in the custody of the Federation would have made him panic. Was it because _Enterprise_ was a ship Bochra had worked with before? She was glad that something good had come from Galorndon Core, and decided to leave him to rest.

One of the Romulans who had been through surgery woke up unexpectedly, and started panicking like Bochra had. Kaylee ran over, having a feeling she wasn't going to be able to talk that Romulan down. His fuss made Bochra sit back up, and Bochra almost sighed in relief when he saw it was Lavok.

Then Lavok started shouting. "Arhem s'tivh ih kroiha dii! Na Vang'radam hrrau Etreh'rhe! Na Vang'radam, Arhem s'tivh ih hra'nuar na hiera."

One of the doctors sedated managed to put a Hypospray to the side of his neck and sedate him.

"Dhat!" The Romulan hissed as he fell asleep.

Slowly the doctor and nurses relaxed their grip on him as he went limp. Kaylee had stopped walking towards him, frozen rather, when she translated the Romulan's words in her mind. She glanced back at Bochra but he had understood Lavok's words as well, and he looked as shocked as her.

 _'I have to stop him, the traitor in engineering, the traitor, I have to before the ship.'_

"Traitor," Kaylee whispered.

Bochra clenched the sheets in one of his hands. Kaylee briskly walked over to the doctors and asked them to wake him back up. They couldn't right after giving him a full dose of sedative, and he needed to rest. When she translated what Lavok had been shouted for them they looked startled, but still couldn't until he slept the dose off.

It seemed the _Terix_ hadn't blown up on its own accord and Bochra glanced around _Enterprise_ 's sickbay as another thought struck him. If there really had been a traitor among the _Terix_ 's crew, then it was possible they were now among the survivors aboard the _Enterprise_.

* * *

Picard sat with his Senior Staff, excepting Dr. Crusher, to discuss the Romulans they had just come into custody of. Currently they were holding position near the debris field of the _Terix_ by the Neutral Zone, and had yet to be contacted by any Romulans. Eventually they would have to contact the Romulans and tell them that they had the crew of the _Terix_ on board. They weren't quite sure how to go about doing that as it practically assured the Romulans would blame _Enterprise_ for _Terix_ 's destruction.

A communication from sickbay interrupted them, and Picard acknowledged it. "Dr. Crusher, has something happened?"

"I'm afraid so," Crusher sighed.

Her wording made the senior staff sit up a little straighter.

"What is it?" Riker asked, wishing he didn't have to.

"One of the Romulans we brought aboard is dying," Crusher looked down as she reluctantly spoke. "At this point I don't believe he'll regain consciousness again."

"That is unfortunate," Worf said, somehow managing to say the word unfortunate. "But hardly unexpected."

"Is it Captain Tomalak," Picard asked.

"No," Crusher promised him. "He's come out of surgery fine and should wake up soon. The problem is,"

"The problem is," Kaylee's voice suddenly interrupted Dr. Crusher's, "aonra."

"Aonra?" Riker said with a bizarre look, not in the least bit surprised by Kaylee's interference. "What's that?"

"The Romulan word for sabotage," Kaylee said seriously.

The word sabotage did its job and startled the Senior Staff.

"The Romulan Dr. Crusher mentioned that's dying is named Lavok," Kaylee explained. "He was in Engineering when the _Terix_ blew up, and he's the only one we managed to find alive even though he won't live for much longer. He woke up for a brief period and started shouting about a traitor."

"So the _Terix_ didn't blow up on its own," Riker said and shook his head. "Who's the traitor?"

"I don't know," Kaylee sighed, "the medical staff sedated him before he could finish his sentence and apparently he's not waking up again. It's possible that the traitor is aboard the _Enterprise_."

"Do you think he might try to destroy the _Enterprise_?" Picard asked sharply and seriously.

"It depends," Kaylee shrugged, forgetting the Senior Staff couldn't see the movement. "If simply destroying the _Terix_ was his objective then no, but he might have been trying to destroy the ship to kill someone among the crew. If his target survived then it is logical for him to try again before Romulan reinforcements come. There are other Romulans coming for the survivors, right?"

"We haven't been contacted yet," Picard didn't mind telling her. "It's likely the Empire doesn't know what happened, so we'll have to contact them."

"What about the traitor?" Kaylee asked, "Assuming he doesn't try to destroy the _Enterprise_ before the other Romulans come are we just going to hand him back without trying to find out who he is? He'll get away free."

"It is not our problem," Worf warned her as if trying to order her.

Riker jumped in quickly before Kaylee took offense at being ordered around, "this is an internal Romulan affair. We don't even know the traitor is aboard the Enterprise or if there was one."

"Oh there was one," Kaylee promised Riker, "I didn't need direct contact with Lavok to tell that much. The traitor used a shift gauge to hotwire the plasma lines to an electrical current. It superheated the plasma and made it, and the ship, blow up. Lavok's memory of it was so strong I was able to remotely catch sight of his memories when he was panicking."

The Senior Staff looked at each other warily. There was a traitor after all. Someone came in and whispered to Dr. Crusher, but Kaylee didn't hear what they said as she was focusing on their response.

"We still don't know if the traitor is aboard _Enterprise_ ," Picard reminded her. "It's likely he was killed with most of the _Terix_ 's crew."

"I'm afraid he most likely is aboard," Dr. Crusher sighed deeply as she dismissed the nurse. "One of my staff just found out the reason why Lavok took a turn for the worse after he was sedated. I'm afraid he wasn't sedated with normal sedative. He was sedated with what we use for open heart surgeries to suspend and slow the heartbeat, and the dosage was upped to almost triple what we would give a patient during an open heart surgery."

"Someone is trying to kill Lavok before he can reveal their identity," Kaylee simplified at the silence from the Senior Staff. "That means the traitor is trying to cover their tracks before their identity is revealed, and whoever they are, they are aboard the _Enterprise_."

* * *

 **Now things are starting to get interesting. The traitor knows he's been found out, and his attempt to cover his tracks has backfired for now they know he's aboard _Enterprise_. If he's backed into a corner then who knows what he might do, to himself, the crew, or _Enterprise_.**

 **The words in Rihan, the Romulan's language, are not just made up. I found an English to Rihan dictionary and drew my words from that. I'm not sure if i got the sentence structure right since i translated word for word from English, but the words themselves are correct. Does anyone speak Romulan?**


	5. Mind Meld

An hour after Kaylee's declaration that the traitor responsible for the _Terix_ 's destruction was on _Enterprise_ , Tomalak woke up and was briefed on the potential disaster awaiting _Enterprise_. Extra guards had been placed in and around sickbay, and there were extra guards in Engineering. Once Tomalak understood the situation, he took less offense to the prison like role his crew was put under.

Needless to say he was furious that there was a traitor, and that they had blown up his ship. For the first time since La Forge and Bochra had been stranded on Galorndon Core, Tomalak agreed to work with _Enterprise_ to find out who the ryak'na was that had killed so many of his crew. It was a small miracle in itself, and it made things easier for Picard.

Unfortunately, Lavok's condition had continued to degrade and Dr. Crusher was certain he'd be dead in the hour. Deanna Troi had stopped by sickbay, but found that Lavok's mind was so distraught and close to death she couldn't glean any facts from it. Although there was a traitor, there didn't seem to be any way to find out who it was.

Tomalak had been separated from his crew to talk to the _Enterprise_ crew in peace, but the survivors from _Terix_ had heard Lavok's shouting about a traitor as well. The crew had no idea which one of them the traitor who had overdosed Lavok was, and they kept quiet and kept their distance from each other. It was for the best to prevent a witch-hunt.

Kaylee had removed herself after Troi failed to reach Lavok's mind, and was now sitting in the hallway outside sickbay. She might know a way to get the information from Lavok, but she didn't want to suggest it. There might be a traitor with the survivors, but it was a Romulan matter, not a Federation one.

It wasn't like she had to help them find the traitor. It was because of this traitor's actions that 2/3 of Tomalak's crew were dead, but they were Romulans. Their lives shouldn't be a concern to a Vulcan like her, and even if it was a concern, could she really do it? Even suggesting the idea of preforming a mind meld with a Romulan like Lavok made her recoil.

Mind melds were exceedingly intimate experiences that literally allowed the participants minds to become one. No matter how brief the connection there always remained some trace of the other's mind. In a way, her mind would remain a little bit Romulan. There was always a slight loss of identity, and Lavok was dying. To preform it with a dying person was extremely dangerous as there was always a chance the one who initiated the meld would not be able to break the meld before the subject died, and thus would die with them.

Romulans were amazingly emotional, and made no attempt or control those emotions. Their mind and a Vulcans were naturally at odds with each other, and Vulcans had been driven insane or never recovered their personality. To perform a mind meld with a dying Romulan was the worst possible scenario, and Kaylee had no real reason to do so.

The only reason she could think of to mention the possibility was that lives had been lost. Almost a hundred Romulans were dead now because of the traitor and Lavok was going to die by his hand. It was a crime and at this rate the traitor was going to get away scotch-free. Could she really be content to let such a murderer get away?

A Vulcan might, but Kaylee couldn't. There was something in her power to help, and she couldn't leave it be. Kaylee's emotions made her telepathy stronger, and it meant that she could probably bear a Romulan's mind. If she had a telepath like Troi present to help her, the risk of her not being able to leave Lavok's mind diminished greatly.

The doors to sickbay opened and someone ran out into the hallway where Kaylee was sitting with her knees drawn to her chest. Whoever they were, they didn't see her and tripped right over her. She yelped, and the guard who had crashed into her fell to the ground on his hands and knees.

"Hey," Kaylee said, "what are you in such a rush for?"

"Two people just got killed," the human, one of the security people snapped and then ran off.

"Huh?" Kaylee said after a second.

The guard had already run down the hall, and Kaylee scrambled to her feet and back inside Sickbay. There were more security guards inside, and the Romulan patients still in bed were trying to look. Kaylee was stunned by their thoughts of the deaths, and reinforced the mental shields behind her eyes that she normally kept relaxed.

She didn't need to step beside the bodies to see them from the other people's distress. In their memory of the incident, one of the _Enterprise_ nurses was dead. Her throat had been slit with a thin blade, a scalpel perhaps, and one of the other Romulans had suffered the same fate. Two murders, obviously by the same person.

"Kaylee," Bochra hissed and waved her over to him. "Who's dead?"

Kaylee glanced at the room where the guards were gathered around and whispered, "An _Enterprise_ nurse and one of your crewmates."

Bochra seemed to pale, and then clenched the sheets in his hands. He looked down, trying to control his anger. Another of his crew was dead because of this traitor that was obviously aboard Enterprise.

"The traitor must have killed the Romulan and the nurse was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Kaylee said softly. "Whoever they are, they aren't picky about who they kill."

"Help me stand," Bochra whispered.

"Huh?" Kaylee glanced away from the crowd at him. "What do you mean? Bochra!"

Bochra had tossed the sheets back and was now moving his legs onto the floor. His side throbbed, but Bochra ignored it and set his bare feet on the carpeted floor, slowly standing. Almost instantly, his legs gave, but Kaylee managed to grab one of his arms so he did not collapse.

"Bochra what are you doing?" Kaylee demanded quietly as she helped drag him to his feet. "You're supposed to be resting. You'll tear open your wound."

"Then the doctor will have to treat it again," Bochra said grimly.

He started to walk towards the body, releasing Kaylee. She hesitated, but silently gave up and followed a step behind him. Bochra was glad she wasn't forcing him to stay in bed. Another of his crew was dead, and he needed to know who it was.

Worf was one of the security gathered around the body, and he looked surprised to see Bochra on his feet with Kaylee a step behind him. A stern look from Kaylee was enough to deter Worf and have him step aside. The Roumlans and Klingons were both warrior races, so perhaps Worf understood why Bochra wanted to know the identity of his fallen comrade so badly.

Bochra froze when he saw the bodies, and recognized the Romulan victim. "Sublieutenant D'Nal. He was an engineer, and one of the new recruits we picked up last month."

"New recruits," Worf repeated.

"Yes," Bochra repeated and looked at Worf with a deathly serious look. "Why is he dead? A Klingon like you is incapable of handling one disarmed traitor?"

"Bochra," Kaylee whispered.

He ignored her. "Security officer, ha. You're no security and no warrior, Klingon. Khitomer proved your species was inferior."

The mention of the Khitomer massacre got a reaction out of Worf, and he responded anger for Bochra's anger. When Worf raised a hand to strike Bochra, Kaylee was suddenly between the two of them and she flicked a hand across the air, eyes locked on Worf's.

"Pain," she hissed.

Worf suddenly felt a pain in his mind as if his nerves were burning and he stumbled back with a snarl, hand clapped to his forehead as if that could stop it. It felt like he was on fire, and his cells were burning. Bochra's eyes widened in shock as Kaylee projected the image of pain into Worf's mind, successfully making him collapse against the wall and slide to the floor.

Kaylee looked away sharply, and Worf froze as the pain suddenly ended and he was able to think again. No sooner did he scramble back to his feet then did Kaylee collapse. Bochra's attempt to catch her and return the favor for her helping him failed when his side throbbed and found that he didn't have the strength support both himself and her. She fell on top of him and they both landed on the floor.

Worf snarled under his breath at her as some of the personal nearby helped the two of them stand. "What was that?"

"A mindflare," Kaylee snipped, and noticed unsurprisingly that she had worn herself out too much to stand on her own.

This was why she hated her telepathy. She had no stamina with it!

"Why did you attack me?" Worf demanded more strongly and waved off the medical personnel who tried to come near him since he was fine.

"There's no reason to hit a patient," Kaylee replied in the same tone, "especially an injured one. He's just upset because another one of his crew died."

Worf took a step forward, and Kaylee raised her eyes dangerously to him. It made him hesitate because Worf did not want to be on the receiving end of yet another mindflare, but didn't want to give up with all of the Romulans watching. Kaylee might be a legendarily poor shot with a phaser and not very good at close combat, but her telepathy tipped the scale in her favor, at least in the short term. She still had enough stamina to use another mindflare.

Bochra was truly amazed when Worf looked away, a silent surrender. He hadn't heard of a Vulcan using their telepathy without physical contact like a Betazoid, and certainly not using it in battle. Kaylee sat down with the personnel's help in front of Dr. Crusher's office, and Bochra managed to limp back to his bed. It appeared that Kaylee had a certain degree of power, and the fact that she was allowed to help without proper training meant she had influence of some sort among the crew.

Dr. Crusher gave both Kaylee and Worf a scything glare, guessing what had occurred, but didn't actually chastise either of them. Was it usual for Kaylee and Worf to be arguing like this? Come to think of it, after Galorndon Core when Bochra had been in the transporter room waiting to return to Tomalak, he had seen Kaylee and Worf bicker.

How was she allowed to get away with it? She was a civilian and Worf a military officer, species non-withstanding. The Federation must be very lax with its discipline, or Kaylee was simply allowed to do what she wanted. Why would that be?

"What I came inside to mention before I burned my energy was that I have an idea on how to get the information from Lavok before he dies," Kaylee grumbled quietly.

Hearing that Lavok was going to die made Bochra cringe again, but at the same time he was surprised. There was a way to get the information from him. Dr. Crusher ushered Kaylee inside her office for a moment and closed the door so the Romulans couldn't hear what the idea was. One of them was the traitor, so that was for the best, but he still wished he could hear what they were saying.

"How do you intend to get the information?" Dr. Crusher asked Kaylee seriously and let the tired girl sit in her chair.

"Mindflares are so taxing," Kaylee sighed off topic, and then answered the question. "As you know, there are very few Vulcans stationed aboard _Enterprise_. I'm also the only one trained in preforming a mind meld."

Dr. Crusher understood what Kaylee intended now, and gave her a measured look. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you that's a bad idea. Lavok is a Romulan, and he's dying."

"Believe me," Kaylee chuckled, "I already went through those points in my head. I don't suppress my emotions though, so I should be able to handle his mind. If Deanna helps me with her telepathy then the chances of me being affected from him dying are vastly limited. The information on the traitor is clearly something he wants to tell, so I shouldn't have any issue getting the traitor's identity."

"I know how precious mind melds are to your race," Dr. Crusher told Kaylee softly. "Although your ability to use mind melds has helped the ship before I would never force you to do one."

"Which is why I'm the one suggesting it," Kaylee assured her.

She hadn't been sure about doing a mind meld before, but after seeing the bodies she felt sure now. This traitor wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and he wasn't being picky about his targets. Lavok would die, and Kaylee was the only one who stood a real chance at finding out who the traitor was. When Bochra had seen the body of his crewmate, the pain had been astounding. He had even picked a fight with Worf on purpose to try and vent some of his anger.

"Are you sure about this Kaylee?" Dr. Crusher asked her seriously.

"The _Enterprise_ is in danger until we find out who the traitor is," Kaylee whispered, "and so is everyone aboard it, Romulan or not."

"All right," Dr. Crusher relented after a few seconds, aware that a mind meld was their only option at this point. "Let me contact Saavak."

"No!" Kaylee shouted in a louder voice then she meant, and blushed a little when Dr. Crusher looked back at her. "I mean, you don't have to."

"She wouldn't allow you to do a mind meld with a Romulan, would she? "Dr. Crusher asked in understanding.

Kaylee shook her head.

"Well," Dr. Crusher sighed, "you are an adult so I will trust your judgement. I should tell the Senior Staff what the plan is and have Troi come and help you."

Kaylee nodded that would be fine, and Dr. Crusher activated the communicator built into her desk so she could contact the rest of the crew.

* * *

 **A little more character development, nothing major really other then Kaylee's mindflare which will see more usage later on. Bochra is starting to blame himself for Patahk, Lavok, D'Nal, and everyone. It wasn't his fault this happened... right?**


	6. Vulcan Roulette

Tomalak sat near a table in a conference room, still exhausted from what had happened. The data crystal with the information he had downloaded from _Terix_ was tucked in his pocket, and his left arm was in a sling. His sight had been restored to his left eye, and with him were two of the senior staff of _Enterprise_.

"A mind meld," Tomalak slowly repeated, "with Lavok?"

"We have a Vulcan onboard willing to perform it," Riker repeated to Tomalak. "In fact, she's the one who suggested it."

"A Vulcan perform a mind meld with a Romulan?" Tomalak leaned back in his seat. "Never mind how ridiculous that sounds that is an unacceptable security risk. The Vulcan will retain some of Lavok's memories, and he is my chief engineer."

Or was that the Federation's plan all along? Tomalak wondered suddenly. Had _they_ sabotaged his ship and overdosed Lavok to put themselves in this sort of situation? It was an intricate plan, but plausible. This way the Federation might end up with classified information, and there was no way to tell what information they would get.

"He is close to dying," Dr. Crusher informed them over the communicator from sickbay. "It's clear he knows who the saboteur was, but there's no chance he'll wake up and be able to tell us. If we don't use the mind meld soon, Lavok's mind will degrade too much and we won't be able to get any information."

"Information," Tomalak repeated.

"Romulans," Kaylee muttered off-screen in Dr. Crusher's office. "Here, let me try and talk some sense into him."

Tomalak's expression darkened at the insolence in the feminine voice, and Dr. Crusher stood. A human with dark red hair took her place in the seat, at least, Tomalak's first impression was that she was human. He realized from her pointed ears and swept eyebrows that she was Vulcan soon enough, but she looked annoyed, and the emotion surprised him even more then her appearance. She also looked familiar enough that Tomalak would have dropped something had he been holding anything.

"Whoever destroyed your ship is still alive and on _Enterprise_ ," Kaylee told him in a scolding voice. "Picard's already contacted the Star Empire, and a Romulan warbird is en route to retrieve you and the other survivors from _Enterprise_. If we don't figure out who the traitor is before that ship gets here, they'll fade into the crew of the coming ships or otherwise vanish. This is the best chance you have. I thought you'd want to know who destroyed your ship, Commander."

"I do," Tomalak promised her. "Who exactly are you?"

Kaylee remembered how Tomalak had called her by her mother's name, and how he had said "Emmi" instead of Emmeline. She wanted to ask him about that, but Lavok took priority.

"Kaylee Dare," Kaylee introduced herself. "I don't have a rank."

"A civilian," Tomalak said softly, "And human?"

"My mother, _Emmeline_ , was," Kaylee informed him, putting a slight emphasize on her mother's name. "I am half-Vulcan though."

Had she just said Emmeline? She couldn't have just said Emmeline. Excepting the Vulcan characteristics, this Kaylee looked just like the Emmeline Tomalak knew. With a little trouble, he set aside the curiosity of this as he had no idea Emmeline had a daughter. Finding the traitor took priority, but once he was caught he made a note to ask Kaylee about her mother.

"And you are the one who will be performing the mind meld with one of my crew?" Tomalak asked her dryly.

Kaylee nodded agreement although she looked a little wary, another emotion, at doing a mind meld on a Romulan.

"I can do mind melds," Kaylee vocally agreed, "but I will not do one without consent form the target. Lavok is unable to give me permission, but it is clear that he wants us to know who the traitor is. If you, as his Commander, agree, then I would perform it."

Was a mind meld truly Tomalak's only option at this point? There was a Romulan D'deridex, possibly more than one, on its way and according to the report they would arrive in less than a day. If the traitor wasn't caught now, then they likely wouldn't be. That was a fact.

Allowing a Federation member to perform a mind meld on his Chief Engineer was dangerous though. Tomalak could lose his rank as Commander, or worse, even if the traitor was caught. What if this really was a trap set by the Federation? Wouldn't it be better to let one crewmate die then to comprise the Star Empire by leaking classified information?

"I do have an ulterior motive for performing this mind meld," Kaylee added, surprising Tomalak.

Was she really going to admit her treachery now? That made no sense to Tomalak.

" _Enterprise_ was in a convenient location to rescue your crew when your ship was destroyed, and now conveniently, they need to perform a mind meld with one of your more knowledgeable crew members to get the name of a traitor who may or may not exist." Kaylee summed up Tomalak's theory quite well. "It seems likely this is a Federation trap to gain classified information."

Tomalak straightened, amazed that Kaylee had seen his worries so clearly. Was she admitting he was right then? The _Enterprise_ senior staff present did look surprised, but also baffled as if that thought had never crossed their mind before.

"What?" Riker said in confusion and looked at Picard.

Picard was gauging Tomalak's reaction, and realized that Kaylee had hit Tomalak's worries perfectly. "Commander Tomalak, we had nothing to do with what happened to _Terix_."

"I'm afraid that given the situation Captain Picard, your words won't mean much." Kaylee spoke up apologetically. "The D'deridex's coming will likely believe the same thing. The fighting that was avoided at Galorndon Core could happen very shortly."

Riker sighed and looked at the table, amazed by how skittish the Romulans were once again.

"If I help you find the traitor who destroyed _Terix_ then _Enterprise_ will be cleared of any suspicion, correct?" Kaylee asked Tomalak. "I assure you I don't propose to do a mind meld with a _dying_ _ **Romulan**_ lightly, but I'm not just doing it for your sake Commander Tomalak. This will benefit both parties."

"And the classified information you would gain from the meld?" Tomalak asked her curiously.

Riker looked back up, and exchanged a startled look with Picard. Tomalak was actually giving a hypothetical situation that might occur if he approved the mind meld, and it sounded like he was thinking of agreeing with _Enterprise_ 's plan. He hadn't wanted to go along with the Federation crew before Kaylee had spoken up.

"I can't control what I see when I am in a meld," Kaylee agreed, "but I also can't control what I remember. How much does Lavok know that is highly classified, and how much of it is knowledge the Federation either already knows or not important enough to matter? I suppose this situation could be summed up like a game of Russian roulette. Do you know what that is?"

Tomalak shook his head no.

"It's a lethal game of chance created on Earth, supposedly started in Russia," Kaylee made her right hand into a gun and pointed it at the screen. "You put a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spin the cylinder, and then lock it into the gun. You no longer know which of the chambers the bullet is in. Then you raise it to your head and pull the trigger."

Tomalak had never heard of this before, but understood. The odds were in the player's favor that the chamber the gun shot from was empty, but it was also possible that it was the chamber the bullet was loaded in. This situation was like that. Considering how much Lavok knew, and how little of it was highly classified, it was unlikely Kaylee would remember something of a crippling nature. There was no guarantee however.

Picard and Riker both wondered what she was talking about now because her words were more likely to make Tomalak defensive.

"There are no guarantees that you'll survive a game of Russian roulette," Kaylee lowered her hand shaped like a gun, "just as there are no guarantees I won't learn anything of a compromising nature. As Commander it is up to you to decide if the risks are worth it. If I don't do the meld then it is assured I won't learn anything, and equally assured that the traitor will escape. Once free, they might very well attack you or another Romulan ship all over again."

"And if I do allow this then the information is at risk, but at a minor risk because it is only a single meld like the single bullet in the chamber," Tomalak sighed. "But if I take the risk then I might also get the reward of capturing the traitor."

Kaylee nodded confidently. "Yep. You know Lavok better then I, so answer me this Commander. Does Lavok know enough classified intelligence to tip the odds that you _lose_ the game? Or are the odds in your favor? Is it worth the risk to capture the traitor that blew up your ship?"

Tomalak looked down instead of answering instantly and his silence surprised the Enterprise crew. He was actually weighing the pros and cons, the risk against the reward, of playing along with this game of "Russian roulette" with Kaylee.

Then Commander Tomalak did something that surprised everyone listening or present to the conversation. He started laughing, and he shook his head as he chuckled. Riker gave Kaylee a stern look, but Kaylee shrugged that she didn't know what was going on.

"You have to be her daughter," Tomalak sighed as he stopped laughing finally, thinking back to Emmeline. "For you are just as brazen as she is… And just as correct. Considering the circumstances, I will risk my luck to capture the traitor. You may perform the mind meld with Lavok. I will take responsibility for it, and for anything you might learn should the gun shoot the loaded chamber."

Worf was not present since he did not get along with Romulans, but Riker, Picard, Dr. Crusher, and Kaylee were all surprised by his agreement. Kaylee's comparison of the mind meld to a game of Russian roulette was accurate, and it seemed to have dulled Tomalak's suspicion in light of the true threat – the traitor.

"This is a calculated risk," Kaylee admitted, "but from your agreement, I assume odds of my learning anything dangerous are in your favor."

"I will agree to this only if you get me the identity of the traitor ho destroyed my ship," Tomalak warned her on a different subject. "So you had better get his name."

"Agreed," Kaylee promised.

The communicator to sickbay turned off, and Riker and Picard both looked at Tomalak in amazement. Balancing the vast reward of finding the identity of the traitor against the minimal risk that Kaylee would remember something classified, Tomalak had decided to test his luck. He had agreed to play the Vulcan-style Russian roulette.

* * *

 ** _*Disclaimer: don't actually be stupid enough to play a game of Russian roulette with a live gun and real ammo just because i mention it here._**

 **Now that the disclaimer has been said, one of my reviewers pointed out that since this mind meld was going to affect Tomalak so much that he should have some story time to, something from his POV. They are right. Some of my plot holes are intentional to make you wonder about secrets to be revealed later, but this one was just something i missed. Oops. This is why i like having people leave reviews.**

 **Does everyone understand the comparison between the meld and Russian roulette, and why the only reason Tomalak's willing to risk it is to catch the traitor?**


	7. A Simple Name

Tomalak had given Kaylee Dare permission to perform a mind meld with Lavok to find the traitor's identity. There was a risk that Kaylee would learn classified information from the engineer's mind, but the odds were in Tomalak's favor that she did not. Bochra didn't understand the idea of "roulette" or what it had to do with the situation, but he was still worried.

Even if the traitor was found, Kayle might still learn something. It was also possible that she learned something and the traitor wasn't found. No matter what happened, Tomalak was going to get in serious trouble. He would likely be demoted, and it might end even worse for him.

Bochra looked on as Kaylee stood beside Lavok's prone form, and beside her was a Betazoid who would help stabilize her since Lavok was dying. After taking a few breath to calm herself, Kaylee raised one of her hands to Lavok to begin. Having never seen a mind meld before, Bochra watched intently as Kaylee placed the tip of her fingers on the side of Lavok's face, close by his temple jaw.

"My mind to your mind," Kaylee said quietly in English as she began and closed her eyes. "My thoughts to your thoughts."

Her voice tapered off as the meld took hold. Bochra wasn't sure what he was expecting, but that seemed to be way too simple. Shouldn't it be harder or somehow flashier to establish a meld? Some of the stories he had heard were obviously exaggerated.

Kaylee cringed and leaned forward, bracing herself on her bed with her other arm. Her body was trembling, and her breathing was no longer level and calm. She must have succeeded in connecting with Lavok.

Troi hesitantly took a step forward, and then flinched back and put a hand to her temple as she was repulsed from her attempt to partake in the meld. Something was happening with Lavok as well, and his blood pressure was increasing. Bochra sat up worriedly, glad that the doctors were distracted by Kaylee or one of them would have made him lie down again.

Slowly, Kaylee's breathing leveled out to the same slow pace as Lavok's. She was evidentially gaining control because Bochra saw Troi exhale in relief and nod at Dr. Crusher who was hovering nearby. Scattered around the medbay were addition security guards, more then there had been before, and Bochra was secretly glad they were here. With luck the traitor was about to be exposed, so they would have to make a move now or soon.

"We are at engineering," Kaylee whispered as she found the correct memory.

Bochra felt a little chill when she said ' _we_ ,' and she continued speaking.

"The modifications to the cloak have been glitching," Kaylee said, making Bochra cringe slightly when he realized she was repeated classified information. "There is a problem with the plasma ratio, and an engineer is already working at the problem port. We scare him when we ask if he had any luck, and he moves at our cue so we can look ourselves. Odd, he seems reluctant to let us near the port. What could he be afraid of?"

Bochra's breath caught. This must be it. It was it, and one of the Romulans in the medbay tensed and sat up as well. His movement wasn't noticed as so many others were doing the same thing. Damn Vulcan was about to expose him.

"There is a shift gauge missing from the toolkit, which we want to use, so we take another one temporarily," Kaylee continued, speaking a little slower and more carefully. "We see the missing shift gauge caught between two panels when we look, and then we get out to shut off the power. Odd, the Engineer has left, and we cannot see him in Engineering."

"The traitor," Bochra whispered in Rihan softly, knowing that the engineer must have left because he knew what was about to happen.

"A muted Padd next to us catches our attention warning us," Kaylee suddenly started speaking quicker. "No, no shut it down. Shut down the engine! Now!"

She started coughing unexpectedly, and blood dripped from between her lips. That would have to be enough, Troi decided, Kaylee had reached her limit. Troi set her hand on Kaylee's wrist, and was unexpectedly hit with the information in the mind meld. It made her head spin and her eyesight blur incomprehensibly even though she didn't gain any information, and she jerked Kaylee's hand free from Lavok.

The meld ended with the contact broken, and Troi and Kaylee landed on the ground in a heap. Dr. Crusher instantly knelt by Kaylee's side, using a hypospray to deliver a dose of lexorin into her bloodstream and checking her vitals with a tricorder. Bochra clenched the sheets in disappointment. It appeared that the stress had been too much. Although they now knew _how_ the explosion had happened, they still didn't know _who_ had started it. Would Kaylee remember anything?

The traitor sitting near Bochra exhaled softly in relief. His cover was still secure. That was good.

Then Kaylee opened her eyes and Troi helped her sit up. She whispered something, and the traitor's breathe caught again. Oh no.

"Aerv," Troi repeated Kaylee's words louder. "What is Aerv?"

Now it was time to go, Aerv i-Mnaeha tr'Khellian thought to himself. She had his name, and the other Romulans would realize what was going on before long. The traitor glanced next to him, an escape plan already worked out that he now executed.

"Aerv," Bochra repeated softly. "That sounds like a name."

Lavok had managed to see the traitor before the ship's destruction, and had evidently known his name. Was the name Kaylee repeating under her breath the name of the engineer who had fled right before his sabotage had destroyed the _Terix_? If it was then it would be easy to check the roster and find out his full name and who he was. They had the name they needed.

Bochra was just starting to smile when the power in medbay cut out, plunging the room into darkness. He sat straight as he heard a muffled sound and then something falling to the ground. There was a hiss as the doors to the medbay opened, although the lights in the hall were off to, so it remained black.

"Oh no," Bochra muttered, having a bad feeling that Aerv had just made himself scarce.

"Get the lights back on!" Worf shouted.

"Emergency power coming online now," Dr. Crusher called out above the growing noise level.

Red emergency lights activated on cue, and illuminated the room. The first thing Bochra saw was that there was a security officer lying on the floor with red seeping into the carpet where his throat had been cut by something. Then he glanced around and realized one of the Romulans was missing.

"The traitor's gone," Bochra called out in English.

"So is this officer's phaser," Worf added and knelt by the fallen security officer.

The traitor was now loose on _Enterprise_ , armed, and his next target unknown. His had suddenly become more dangerous. Worf motioned to the other security officers, and they ran out into the hallway, scattering to try to find where Aerv had gone.

"Captain," Worf said after he tapped on the combadge that he wore on his chest as he left medbay. "The traitor has fled medbay and stolen a phaser."

Bochra failed to hear the rest of the conversation as the doors closed, but red alert suddenly sounded with a waning alarm. Glad that he was already mostly healed, Bochra got out of the bed as Troi stood, and she and Dr. Crusher helped Kaylee to a bed. It looked as if she would be all right, so the next task was figuring out the traitor's next move. Would he go for Engineering as he had on the _Terix_?

It appeared Bochra was the only Romulan present who was both healed enough to do something, and had training to make a difference. He wasn't going to take a nap while the traitor who had blown up _Terix_ and fatally wounded Lavok ran loose. Of course, he would only get in the way of the _Enterprise_ security officers if he didn't know what he was doing and they might mistake him for Aerv. Bochra needed to find out what Aerv's next move was and then beat him to his target.

The few security agents who had remained weren't looking so Bochra knelt by the body of their comrade. It looked as if his throat had been slit by a scalpel or something similar, and as this was a medbay, Bochra could believe that Aerv had located a scalpel. Curiously, the security officer's combadge was gone, and Aerv must have taken it. Bochra tapped on a console nearby, taking advantage of the officer's negligence to try and figure out what Aerv had done.

He almost rolled his eyes when he saw that it was as simple as he thought, an embedded subroutine that turned the lights off. Turning the lights off, what a childish move. It was amazing that such a trick was still effective, but hesitated when he took a closer look at the virus Aerv had somehow managed to implant in _Enterprise_.

His eyes widened when he recognized the virus and he swallowed. This was a quick-acting Tal Shiar virus. What would a traitor like Aerv be doing using a Tal Shiar virus? That meant, that could only mean he wasn't a traitor, but a Tal Shiar operative following orders. The conclusion didn't make any sense. Why would the Tal Shiar order the destruction of _Terix_?

The Tal Shiar was the Romulan Star Empire's intelligence agency, and one of the most respected and feared organizations in the Alpha and Beta quadrant. They protected the Empire's secrets from outsiders and traitors within. What feud did they have with _Terix_? Commander Tomalak bickered with those higher ranking them in when they gave incompetent orders, but he never pushed things too far. Even if Tomalak was the target, what gave the Tal Shiar the right to destroy the entire ship?

Bochra turned away from the panel and crept up on the closest of three security officers left behind in the medbay. Even if this was a Tal Shiar directive, Bochra was not just going to sit back and let their agent keep killing. In order to do anything though he needed a weapon, and a phaser would do. His fellow crewmembers realized what Bochra was doing, but kept silent and let him approach the guard.

He tapped the security officer on the shoulder, and when the human turned, punched him. It was a nice solid hit, and his Romulan strength sent the human security officer flying backwards to hit a bed. The sound drew the other security guards attentions, but Bochra was already moving.

As the human drew his phaser, Bochra got into range and knocked the phaser from his wrist with a swipe as he punched the human in the solar plexus and threw him aside. The third security agent present was suddenly dropped with a phaser, and Bochra glanced over his shoulder to see that one of the other Romulans had taken the disruptor from his first victim. Bochra held out his hand, and his crewmate tossed it to him.

Bochra caught the phaser and then held up his hands towards the medical personal. "At ease. I'm not after you, just the traitor Aerv."

"Need any help?" The Romulan who had thrown the phaser asked.

"Not this time Sienae," Bochra assured her and took the combadge from the security officer she had stunned.

"Good hunt," another Romulan called out.

Bochra tipped his head to the one who had spoken as he fastened the combadge onto his chest and left medbay with the phaser in hand. He would find that traitor, and get some straight answers out of him about the Tal Shiar virus. Sienae smiled as he left, and reached over to check Bochra's victim lying by her bed for a pulse. Troi, Dr. Crusher, and the medical personnel who were still conscious didn't understand what was going on.

"At ease," Sienae assured them. "Bochra doesn't like to hurt civilians, just the bad guys."

Their befuddled look didn't negate and Sienae gave them an amused look.

"What?" She asked them. "Did you think Centurion Bochra was a science officer like me? He's not."

"He's a security officer," Troi grasped.

"So you humans would call him," Sienae chuckled. "He might not have the patience for Lavok's technical garble, but he knowns how to fight. I for one am not worried about him. In fact, I think I'm more worried for Aerv."

Bochra tapped on the combadge in the hallway while Sienae and the other Romulans soothed the medical personnel and let them look over the unconscious security agents. From the conversation spilling out of the combadge, Bochra gathered that extra security had already been sent to Engineering and other vital places on _Enterprise_ , but the internal scanners were disabled. It appeared that Aerv's virus had done more than just turn the light off after all, and security was being forced to spread out and search the ship manually. There was no sign of Aerv yet, but if he really was a trained Tal Shiar agent then he wouldn't be easy to find.

"Come on," Bochra whispered and tightened his grip on his stolen phaser and tried to ration out what Aerv's next target was. "Where are you?"

* * *

 **All it took was for Kaylee to say a simple name, and everything goes to hell.** **I realize that i haven't done much from Bochra's POV as this story is supposed to be about Bochra, so i will work on that. Bochra** **is a part of the Romulan military, and he's a warrior instead of a communication or engineering officer, which would be the two support branches. More about him will continue to be revealed.**

 **He is taking what happened personally and a Romulan probably is best suited to deal with a Romulan, but Aerv is a Tal Shiar agent. I will confirm that for you. Aerv is an elite, and his training is on a whole different level from the basic combat Bochra learned as a foot soldier. If he finds Aerv first, as he wants to do, then he could end up wishing he hadn't.**

 **We know a little more about the situation, but there are actually more question then before. Is Aerv really taking orders from the Tal Shiar, or is he a turncoat playing to another tune? If he is following Tal Shiar orders then why did the Romulan's intelligence agency order the destruction of _Terix_ , one of their own ships? If Aerv is a traitor, then who gave him his orders to target _Terix_? Was destroying _Terix_ the real goal, and if it wasn't, then what is Aerv's real target?**


	8. Orders

Saavak looked at the Tricorder in her hand as she sat underneath the control of the transporter in Cargo Bay 3. Most of the circuitry in the cargo bay had been shut down for major overhaul, and had yet to be reactivated, so even through the ship was on red alert, no alarms blared. Once the transporter was repaired, then the rest of the cargo bay's circuitry could be brought back online.

Oblivious of the danger the ship's crew was in, the Vulcan calmly looked through the most recent tricorder readings. It appeared that she was almost done, and continued to make the necessary adjustments with the synchronic meter she was holding. It was basic work that kept only the hands busy. Saavak's mind wandered despite her training to Kaylee's demand of how Tomalak knew her mother.

Saavak lowered the synchronic meter and closed her eyes to meditate for a few seconds and steady herself. Two of Emmeline's Romulan friends, Dontana and Rehu, were dead, so the only remaining Romulans that were a threat were Tomalak and Delron, and of course, it had to be one of those two that was now on _Enterprise_. It was fortunate Delron hadn't been the one stranded on _Enterprise_ , for he would have ruined everything. Things might be ruined anyway because as the situation stood Saavak wasn't sure how to salvage the situation with Kaylee.

After Emmeline had been removed, Saavak had been trusted with her newborn daughter even though she had never met Emmeline before. It was thought that she could control Kaylee, but the girl had her mother's stubbornness. This brush with the Romulans risked compromising everything.

Saavak went back to her work on the transporter, but continued to muse over possible plans to convince Kaylee that Tomalak knew nothing of Emmeline. Kaylee needed to be separated from the Romulans, and Saavak knew her decision to bring Kaylee with her aboard the _Enterprise-D_ was a dangerous decision. At the time, it had seemed like the best idea as it gave Kaylee a view of life beyond Vulcan and a break in the monotone pace of life on Vulcan, two things she had badly wanted, while keeping her under Saavak's supervision. Now the long-term effects of Saavak's decision were starting to be felt.

Perhaps it was time to transfer out of Starfleet and return to Vulcan where Kaylee could be kept under closer watch. If Saavak was going to do so then it had to be soon while Kaylee still had questions. False answers could always be given to her back on Vulcan to mollify her human curiosity, but if Kaylee found the real answers then Saavak would lose control over her.

There was a hiss as the door opened, and Saavak put her thoughts back on her task before her. She assumed it was someone come to do an inventory check, another engineer, or someone of the like. It was none of those things.

There was a set of footsteps approaching as Saavak finally finished and lowered the synchronic meter, closing the panel back up. The person didn't greet her as most humans tended to do, so Saavak assumed it was a non-human crewmember. This assumption was half-correct as it was not a human, but it was not a member of the _Enterprise_ crew. Because the console was in the way, Saavak couldn't see who her visitor was and as did not have the humans unbridled curiosity, she felt no need to look.

"I have just finished," Saavak announced as she started to stand.

"Good," her visitor replied.

Saavak stood and looked up, not recognizing the visitor's voice. She was stunned to see an injured Romulan standing before her with a Federation Phaser. Aerv fired, and the shot hit Saavak square in the chest, knocking her back to the ground at the base of the transporter. The setting indicator on Aerv's phaser was green and orange-yellow, warning him that it was set to Level 10, the kill setting.

Aerv lowered his phaser and limped over to the transporter console. He reached up to his chest where crest of the Romulan Star Empire was displayed on the V-connection of the harness he wore as part of his uniform and removed it. It was not just a scrap of detailed metal, and as he touched the twin planets clutched in the eagle's claws coordinates in the crest's memory bank set themselves into the transporter. He clipped the crest back onto his chest with one hand, and set the transporter to beam over to the coordinates he had taken from the _Enterprise_ 's computer with the other.

He might not be very good at maintaining his cover, as his nervous actions with Lavok were the reason he had been caught, but once he was free from acting he could focus on the mission. Aerv set the transporter to delay five seconds after he started it to give him time to get on the pad. This should be a quick kill, and once his mission was completed, he would kill himself. There was no chance of extraction if he completed his mission, and Aerv had known that. His life was a small price to pay to ensure a mission of this importance was completed.

Aerv sensed more then saw the attack coming and ducked behind the console just as a phaser blast shot over where his head had been. He hadn't expected the humans to catch up to him so quickly. While they'd be scrambling to protect the armory, Engineering, the main transporter pads, civilian safe houses, and the bridge, Aerv would come into a cargo bay and just use its transporter. There shouldn't be any security here so quickly.

"Come out traitor," someone ordered in fluent Rihan overhead on the upper level of the cargo bay.

A human wouldn't be bothered to speak Rihan when they could simply use their Universal Translator, and Aerv smiled. "I thought all of the _Terix_ crew were under surveillance."

Bochra was a little surprised Aerv already knew who he was, and responded warily as he trained his phaser on where the traitor was taking shelter. "I was, and the guards will wake up eventually."

"Wake up?" Aerv repeated. "They're still alive?"

"I have never had a feud with the crew of this ship," Bochra promised, "and I do not intend to create one by killing their people."

"From your words you've worked with Enterprise's crew before," Aerv called up as he unclipped the crest from his chest again. "I suppose you did back on Galorndon Core, Bochra."

Bochra tensed when Aerv said his name, but realized his words had given him away. His experience on Galorndon Core working with La Forge was unique among the crew, and it had been a bad idea to mention it. He tightened his grip on the phaser, but still couldn't get a shot at Aerv from his angle. If he wanted a shot then he was going to have to leave his cover of barrels lining the railing, and he didn't doubt a Tal Shiar agent would be able to pick him off once he showed himself.

"What are you doing?" Bochra stalled instead. "Why is a Tal Shiar agent targeting loyal Romulans?"

Aerv stopped fiddling with the crest to try and remotely activate the transporter. "So you figured out I'm working on Tal Shiar orders then, smart. There's no way I can let you live now."

"Then I will die today," Bochra dismissed, "but so will you, and you will die before you can kill any more of the _Terix'_ s crew. What crewmember are you targeting and why?"

"My mission parameters do not include answering your questions Centurion," Aerv assured him as he successfully connected with the transporter controls.

He canceled the five-second delay, so all he had to do was shot the Centurion and step onto the transporter. His phaser was still set on kill. Aerv clipped the programmed crest back on his harness and then took the combadge of the security officer he had slit the throat of from his pocket. This would flush his opponent out of hiding.

" _Terix_ 's crew has been saying that you would make a wonderful Tal Shiar officer, Bochra," Aerv called up. "I suppose you just thought about what you would do in my situation. With the _Enterprise_ security guarding most of the places on the ship that left fewer for you to search. It seems you would make a good officer."

"I am never joining the Tal Shiar," Bochra grumbled under his breath, wishing the _Terix_ crew would stop saying otherwise. "The Tal Shiar apparently destroys loyal Romulan starships."

Aerv clenched the combadge in one hand. "I don't relish killing loyal Romulans either, but you have no idea what is going on, or what is at stake."

"You're right," Bochra agreed. "I'm just a Centurion after all."

Aerv agreed with that, and turned in one smooth movement and threw the purloined combadge at Bochra like a Frisbee. Bochra shot at it instinctively, managing to land a solid hit. This turned out to be the wrong thing to do as the phaser shot overloaded the combadge's matrix and made it explode. It wasn't an explosion on the scale of a phaser overloading, but Bochra jumped away from his cover to try and use the distraction to get in a better position for a shot.

Aerv knew Bochra would do that, since it was what he would do, and fired his own phaser. His first shot missed and hit the bulkhead beside Bochra's head, but the second shot hit him. Bochra stumbled backwards towards the staircase he was near, and dropped his phaser. There was something stunned in his eyes as if he couldn't believe he had been shot. He stepped back a little too far and his foot came down on empty air of the steps.

Bochra fell down the metal steps loudly and came to a stop on the floor in a heap. When he didn't stir from his fall, Aerv slowly stood. He smiled in light amusement and walked to the transporter pad after checking the charge on his phaser was still sufficiently charged. Although he would admit that what Bochra had tried to do was admirable, it was still very foolish. All Aerv needed to do now was beam to his Tomalak's quarters, and eliminate him.

He stepped onto the transporter pad and tapped on his crest to start the transport. Just as two of his fellow Tal Shiar had destroyed Commander Dontana and Commander Rehu's warbirds and killed them with their ships, his mission was almost complete. Tomalak had managed to survive thanks to _Enterprise_ 's timely appearance, but it would make no matter in the end.

That was Aerv's plan at least, but the instant the matter beam appeared around his form, Bochra opened his eyes and scrambled to his feet. He had landed close to the transporter pad, and Aerv saw him stand and run towards him with wide eyes. Smart Centurion, Aerv silently admitted as he raised is phaser towards Bochra, pretending to be dead was a nice touch.

Aerv pulled the trigger, and the phaser's orange beam shot from the muzzle. The phaser's shot froze partially fired, almost hovering in midair as the transporter's breakdown process disrupted it harmlessly, and Bochra used the chance to leap onto the transporter pad. He tackled Aerv as the transporter managed to get its lock and beam both of them to the coordinates Aerv had set.

* * *

 **I'm not sure if a transporter would really lock onto both of them like it did at the end, but let's work under the assumption that it can. Yes, Saavak was killed, but not before raising some curious points about Kaylee. The Tal Shiar's targets do have something to do with Kaylee so there is a connection, at least between Emmeline and the Star Empire. Guesses anyone on what's going on?**


	9. Fight

Bochra and Aerv materialized in a hallway on _Enterprise_ , and the force from Bochra being able to finish his jump tackled Aerv off his feet. The phaser's shot interrupted by the transport now finished and harmlessly hit the wall as the two of them toppled to the ground. Aerv's phaser slid down the hallway away from his hand, and Bochra smiled.

His smile didn't last long because Aerv got a boot on his chest and kicked Bochra over his head, freeing himself and standing gracefully. Bochra was now between him and his phaser. There was no way Bochra could make for it without getting ambushed by Aerv, but Aerv couldn't get close to it either.

The fact that the phaser had discharged already was a problem as Aerv wasn't sure if _Enterprise_ had its internal scanners back online. If it did then the scanners would register the phaser discharging. He might already be caught.

"Stay out of my way," Aerv ordered and flicked his right hand.

The light reflected off metal, revealing the scalpel he had stolen earlier. He held it in a strike position, hand securely wrapped around the handle and his index finger applying pressure to the spine of the blade. The small and sharp blade itself was held towards Bochra. Bochra remembered seeing the bodies in sickbay, and wisely did not underestimate the small weapon when Aerv leaped at him.

Bochra managed to sidestep his first slash, feeling pain as the scalpel grazed his neck. Aerv smiled now, and Bochra felt a drop of blood run down the side of the throat. He tried to step back, but banged into the hallway wall. There wasn't enough room to fight in here!

Aerv came at him again, and Bochra clumsily dodged the rapid strikes. He had neglected his training too much since Emmeline and Patahk's death, and was startled when Aerv used the wall as a springboard to get closer to him. Bochra sidestepped, raising an arm in defense. The scalpel sliced through the black cloth easily, making Bochra wince ever so slightly. A kick across the face did not help Bochra's position.

"I am a little curious," Aerv admitted as he slashed open Bochra's cheek and almost got his eye, and then punched hum under the chin and cracked his head up. "I know my phaser shot hit you, set to kill. How are you alive?"

"It missed," Bochra smirked as he spat out a mouthful of blood and dodged the next blow, landing a vicious kick on the side of Aerv's left knee. "I've been shot with one of those set to kill before, so I knew how I should act."

Aerv's injured leg buckled as he put weight on it, and he hissed as the bone splintered. He raised an arm to block Bochra's punch and he slashed at him with the scalpel to buy some space. Bochra blocked Aerv's wrist rather than back off and snapped it. It was well done, and Aerv tossed the scalpel from his snapped wrist to the other hand and slashed Bochra's face.

It was obvious Bochra wasn't expecting such a rapid recovery, and he wasn't able to step back in time. Aerv heard Bochra's shriek as he stepped back and put a hand to his face where the scalpel had struck. Blood ran down his face, and Aerv used the wall to brace himself to stand as Bochra fell with a hand over his eyes.

"That should calm you down," Aerv sighed and shook the blood off the scalpel.

His well-placed blow had skimmed horizontally across Bochra's face, hitting not one, but both of his eyes. Without his sight, he was no threat and Aerv retrieved his phaser, limping slightly. The information on Bochra was correct, and his fighting style really was identically to Emmeline's. Knowing that had made him easier to deal with because someone trained to kill by Emmeline would not be easy to defeat.

The information he had taken from the computer said Tomalak was in the room they had transported in front of, and since the door hadn't yet opened, he must still be resting. Well, he had sustained rather severe injuries during _Terix_ 's destruction.

Bochra placed a hand on the surface of the wall, the other one still covering his ruined eyes, and started to stand. Aerv slammed the butt of the phaser against Bochra's skull and he dropped back to the floor. Normally he would finish Bochra off now but the noise from another shot of the phaser might rouse Tomalak, and he had wasted enough time as it was. He tucked the scalpel into the sleeve as he turned from Bochra's unconscious form and to the control for Tomalak's door.

It was a pity he would have to kill Bochra after he dispatched Tomalak because the crew was right. Thanks to his training with Emmeline, he had the potential to be a wonderful Tal Shiar agent. It would be such a waste of his talent, but it couldn't be helped given the circumstances. His contact with Emmeline was the reason why he had to be killed.

His decoder overrode the lock on the door, and Aerv silently entered. The lights were off inside, and there was no one in immediate sight. Judging from the reading on the decoder, Tomalak was present, but in the back room. Aerv clipped the decoder onto his chest and walked with his phaser in front.

The door to the back room was open, and Aerv could see it was a bedroom. There was a heap under the sheets, hidden by the shadows. Aerv smiled, relieved that Tomalak hadn't been awoken by the sounds of the fighting. It was just as his decoder had found in _Enterprise_ 's database. Tomalak's medication had picked a very poor moment to start acting up, forcing him to rest. It was an unexpected and welcome coincidence.

Aerv raised the phaser, and shot. The shot connected, and he lowered the phaser. There was no doubt he had gotten a kill shot, but he had better confirm Tomalak was dead before he killed himself.

The door to the closet beside the bed was open, and Aerv walked past it to the sheets. He narrowed his eyes, feeling something was off, and gripped a fistful of the sheets. Then he yanked it back, phaser raised to shoot again. His reaction choked off when he saw that it wasn't Tomalak under the sheets, but several pillows.

Confusion etched Aerv's features and he stared blankly at the pillows he had shot. "What?"

A shadow moved from within the closet, and as Aerv dropped the sheets with a tssk, Tomalak leapt out at him. Aerv yelped, not expecting to be ambushed. He was dragged to the ground by Tomalak, and pinned on his stomach, Tomalak placing one arm on the back of his neck. Tomalak slammed Aerv's arm against the ground, forcing him to release the phaser.

"How did you?" Aerv tried to say.

"Heh," Tomalak smiled. "I was the target after all. I thought as much."

A pillow substitute, as old a trick as playing dead. Aerv now knew where Bochra got his tricks from. How did Tomalak know his was the target?

" _Enterprise_ should figure you're here before long," Tomalak said without lessening the pressure on Aerv.

"I get it," Aerv chuckled. "You pretended your medication was acting up and came back here, knowing I'd follow. This is an internal affair. The humans wouldn't believe you were the target without explaining why I would be targeting you and that would mean you'd have to reveal state secrets."

"Exactly," Tomalak assured him. "The other ships that have been destroyed had one thing in common – their commanders were all close friends of Emmeline. Is she really the reason behind this slaughter? She was a valuable Sector 31 asset who defected from the Federation. There were doubts about her loyalty obviously, but she lived and died a loyal member of the Star Empire. Why are you hunting those who knew her?"

Aerv laughed, drawing the scalpel from inside his sleeve without Tomalak noticing. "You figured this much out already. Figure that out."

Aerv tightened his grip on the scalpel and stabbed it upward between Tomalak's ribs. While the shock flashed across his features, Aerv knocked him back and reached for the phaser. Tomalak kicked it into the other room so Aerv's hand touched only floor when he knelt to grab it, and Aerv tssked. There was a flash of movement, and then Tomalak kicked Aerv solidly in the chest.

Aerv's eyes widened, stunned that he had recovered so quickly, and then he was flying through the air. He crashed into the glass coffee table in the adjoining room, and it shattered into hundreds of pieces under his weight. The strength of a Romulan was not to be underestimated, but Aerv was surprised that Tomalak had been able to recover from his attack so quickly. He was certain that he had sliced open his lung.

"Vang'radam," Tomalak swore as he stalked after Aerv.

Aerv pushed himself up on his arms and picked up a few of the larger shards in his hand. "I am no traitor. That I promise."

Tomalak was surprised by the vindictive confidence in Aerv's voice as he declared that, and realized that the pain from Aerv's strike was starting to filter past the pain medication he had taken when he had heard the fighting in the hallway. He would be feeling it soon.

Aerv sat up and threw the glass shards at Tomalak in place of phaser shots. He would not stand being called a traitor. This mission was to protect the Romulan Star Empire and considering the stakes, losing a few ships and their crews were a worth it. He knew what would happen if things continued, and that was why he had to complete his mission and kill Tomalak.

Both glass shards hit Tomalak's chest and Aerv came to his feet. His left foot slipped on the glass shards and pain suddenly struck up his leg as he twisted the knee Bochra had damaged. Unable to recover, he fell back to the ground and snapped his hands out in front of him. Glass lacerated his palms as he landed on the debris.

He looked for the phaser rapidly as he stood up again, seeing that Tomalak had put his back against a wall. Blood must have seeped into his damaged lung by now, making it difficult for him to breathe, and Tomalak could tell that the pain medication was waning. Aerv stood again, keeping the weight off of his injured leg, and raised his hands. In each hand were three shards of glass, and he held one between his knuckles with a fierce expression.

"You don't understand," Aerv hissed. "I have my orders, and both you and your son have been contaminated. I dealt with him earlier, and now I will deal with you before it spreads."

The word contaminated was the first thing that sank in for Tomalak, and his first thought was some sort of virus. His second though took over the first at the mention of his son. He had been waiting in his room for the assassin to show up as he did and had been alerted by the shot of the phaser firing in the hallway and the subsequent fight, and knowing he was the target he had decided to surprise the assassin.

Tomalak had assumed it was an Enterprise security officer the traitor was fighting, but it didn't sound like that was the situation. The way it sounded, this traitor had fought Bochra? Since he had gotten inside then that meant Bochra was… dead?

"You?" Tomalak whispered.

"You came close to losing your son once when he went scouting with Patahk and they crashed on Galorndon Core. Bochra was supposed to die with Patahk then, but no one expected him to cooperate successfully with a human and survive." Aerv recalled as he raised the glass shards to throw them, blood running down his hands where the shards were slicing his fingers open. "If you hadn't befriended Emmeline when she defected and let her train your son, then he wouldn't be a target. Bochra's death is your fault."

"Says you," someone said softly behind Aerv.

Aerv hesitated, and then spun around towards the doorway. His feet crunched loudly on the glass as he did so, and he threw the glass shards at the same instant his opponent fired the phaser in their hand. They stepped away from the doorway the instant they pulled the trigger, and the glass shards hit the wall where they had been standing.

The phaser shot was much faster, and Aerv was unable to dodge it. He gasped as it hit him in the upper chest just below his throat, and he took a step back in shock that he had been shot. No, he had to complete his mission here. If he didn't then the Star Empire would… the Star Empire would… Aerv's thoughts vanished as he stepped backwards on the glass and collapsed to the floor, hitting it loudly.

Tomalak looked at the doorway, baffled by what had happened. Slowly, someone peered around the doorframe. When Tomalak saw who it was he gave a start and started to smile.

"Did I get him?" Bochra asked, holding the phaser Tomalak had kicked away in one hand.

"You got him," Tomalak exhaled in relief. "Bochra, you are alright."

"I pretended he knocked me out so he turned his back on me and forgot I was here," Bochra explained with a smile. "That left him vulnerable. Playing possum is the oldest trick in the book, but it usually works. With some opponents you can do it to them more than once."

Bochra was quoted Emmeline directly again. Tomalak pushed off against the wall and stood straight, glancing at the traitor to make sure he was out of it. There was little doubt from the burns on the chest that he was no longer a threat.

He looked back at Bochra and then gasped. Blood was running down Bochra's face from his eyes, and dripping onto the carpet and his clothes. His eyes were closed, and the damage looked severe.

"Bochra," Tomalak repeated in horror.

Bochra tried to smile that he was all right, but the phaser slipped out of his hand and he toppled forward. Tomalak ran towards Bochra, managing to catch his son before he hit the ground. He knelt, and held Bochra close to him when he saw just how much blood was on his clothes. With Bochra's practice waning, it was little wonder a Tal Shair agent could do this to him. If Emmeline were still alive, she'd scold Bochra for letting his guard down.

Footsteps approached and Tomalak picked up the phaser and raised it towards the footsteps. He lowered it when he saw the Klingon approach with several other security officers. They looked at the two of them in surprise, and Tomalak tssked in irritation.

"You're late," Tomalak accused them. "Bochra needs medical attention, and the traitor is in the room. He's unconscious, but I don't know if he's dead."

Tomalak had sparred with Emmeline before, and it was lucky he had. Dontana, Rehu, and Delron had trained with Emmeline as well. Rehu's son Patahk had trained with Bochra and Emmeline to, and the traitor had said Bochra and Patahk were supposed to die on Galorndon Core. That meant _Pi_ 's crash on Galorndon Core hadn't been an accident, and neither had Patahk's death.

He now knew Emmeline was the cause of the strife, but how? Had she really been a double agent working against the Star Empire? That was the one treachery Tomalak couldn't believe, not considering what she was. Did that simply showcase her brilliance, that she had even the Romulans trust her? The traitor seemed to mean his words when he had declared he was still loyal to the Star Empire, so where did that stand? What about this contamination he had mentioned?

What was going on here?

* * *

 **i realize as i'm reading this that i'm leaving you with more questions then answers again, sorry. They'll be answered in time. The next chapter will answer questions about Emmeline, but i'm sure it will create question as well.**

 **so the traitor (assuming he is one) has been captured. the first part of the story is almost wrapped up. part 2 is where it gets interesting.**


	10. Emmeline

Bochra had first seen the human woman who lived on Romulus when he had been seven years old by human time. She was kept away from the public's eye, and did not leave her estate except when she went on assignments. Most of the time she was either lying on the roof of the estate's manor watching the clouds and dozing, or training on the obstacle course that took up most of the estate's grounds.

Bochra wasn't even supposed to find out that she existed, but he had heard Delron mention her name to Tomalak once and he hadn't been able to forget it. Later he had stolen some of his father's files, and had recruited Patahk to hack into Tomalak's files, science type that he was. Delron had caught them, but had simply told them to stop before someone caught them, and said that if a pair of children could break into top-secret information then the Tal Shiar should recruit them both.

Delron had told Emmeline about them, and Emmeline had been impressed they had found out about her and remarked that she wouldn't mind meeting such espionage masters. Patahk had fallen ill not long later, but he had told Bochra to go ahead and see what this mysterious Emmeline was like. Bochra had wished Patahk had been able to go with him as Delron snuck him away from his father, Tomalak still unaware the boys had found out about Emmeline, and to Emmeline herself. The first thing that had shocked Bochra when he had first seen Emmeline was that she was not Romulan, but human.

She had been wearing combat boots, black pants and tubetop, and a dark blue knee-length longcoat. It was buttoned by at her throat by a single silver button, and when Bochra had first met her she had a pair of disruptors strapped to her thighs. There was a scar on the right side of her face that ran from her forehead, down her face all the way to her chin and continued to her shoulder. Her skin had been pale instead of olive like Romulans, her forehead smooth and ears rounded.

Bochra couldn't help but remember the first time he had met Emmeline as he was transported to medbay with his father after Aerv's attack, reflecting that the only difference in appearance between Kaylee and Emmeline was that Kaylee had Vulcan traits and lacked her mother's scar. Emmeline had smiled brightly and warmly at him when she had introduced herself, and Delron had faded into the background.

When he had asked why she was armed like that, she had invited him outside to her obstacle course to show him. She had taken him to the shooting range and ordered him to stand behind a tree so she wouldn't shoot him by accident, and Bochra had complied. Emmeline drew the Romulan disruptors she had on her and held them in her hands.

Calmly she had ordered, "Game Start!"

Holographic spheres, a very similar program Bochra used for target practice aboard _Terix_ , had appeared. There were four of them, and Emmeline had closed her eyes before she started shooting. The game lasted ten seconds, during which Emmeline had emptied the clip of blank rounds in both of her disrupters without missing a single shot. When the holograms had vanished Emmeline had holstered her disruptors, and Bohcra had taken that as his cue to approach her with an awestruck look.

"Uncle Delron said your file about you being a good warrior was right, but that was amazing." Bochra had praised her as only a child could and bounced on his toes. "You didn't miss at all."

Emmeline's blood-black hair had been tied out of her face in a ponytail that came to her shoulders, but bangs still framed her face. She tucked one behind her ear with a smile and turned her blue-silver eyes to him. When she smiled at his praise, she had revealed that she had sharpened canines, an inhuman trait.

"Practice little one," Emmeline had told him with a soft purr to the edge of her voice. "It's practice."

"Does that mean I can be that good?" Bochra had smiled at her and Emmeline had laughed softly.

It was not a scolding laugh as if she were making fun of him, but a smooth and soft one that betrayed her amusement. "I suppose you can if you practice, and since the Star Empire is a militaristic nation you will likely use it. Do you want to become a military officer when you're older like your father?"

Bochra hummed agreement and nodded eagerly, black hair bouncing with the movement. "I'll be a great general."

Emmeline had laughed again and smiled, her smile gentle and soft, one that made Bochra want to smile back at her. "There's no reason you can't be one day if you put your mind to it."

Bochra had nodded again and then hesitated, wanting to ask a question but shy about it. Emmeline noticed and crouched down to his level with her smile, resting her chin on the back of one of her hands.

"What is it? I can tell you have a question." Emmeline smiled at him in her comforting way. "Speak up. I don't bite."

"Well," Bochra looked down at the ground and then asked rapidly. "How'd you get that scar on your face?"

Understanding cleared Emmeline's features and she tapped the scar with a few fingers. "This old thing? It's from a Klingon bat'leth. They're mostly close-combat weapons, but do not underestimate their range."

"You've fought Klingons then," Bochra seemed to brighten even more. "I'll fight them to when I get older."

Emmeline nodded agreement and stood again. The movement coupled with a light summer breeze had tugged at the lower hem of the coat, revealing the inside lining for a brief moment. Her longcoat had been lined on the inside by an innumerable amount of throwing knives.

The brief glimpse had vanished, and Bochra at that young age hadn't been able to comprehend what he had seen. Emmeline had straightened the coat and the throwing knives had vanished from sight. She touched a scar on the left side of her stomach. It ran horizontally and was just below her bellybutton, and was about a hand length long.

"This one's from an Andorian," Emmeline sighed at the memory of the scar. "Like the Klingons, they've kept up with melee combat instead of relying only on phasers. The one that did this to me was using an ice-miner's tool called the ushaan-tor. They play with them as children, and a competent user is surprisingly quick on their feet."

"Do you have any other scars from battle?" Bochra had asked insensitively.

As ever, Emmeline hadn't taken offense.

"Ah," she said and nodded, "quite a few. It's rare to escape a melee battle unscathed."

"What about from disruptor fire?" Bochra asked, "er, or phasers?"

Emmeline shook her head at him. "None from those. Long-range weapons are much easier to dodge then close-range."

Bochra looked down, thinking hard. "Does that have something to do with the reason you had your eyes closed when you were shooting just now?"

"You're sharp," Emmeline congratulated him. "Yes it does. In the field of battle, the primary sense you rely on is your sight, so naturally it's the first one your opponent tries to take away. Smoke grenades, flash bangs, using darkness, even just throwing sand or dirt in your eyes. Rely too much on your sight, and you're helpless without it."

Bochra thought about that, and Emmeline continued, hoping to help him understand her point.

"In melee combat, it's common practice to go for your opponent's eyes, right?" Emmeline asked him. "I'm sure that's where you try to land your punch when you fight with other children."

Bochra had seen the older children and adults brawl before, and realized Emmeline was right. A black eye was the most common injury in a brawl.

"If you can learn to manage without your eyes in combat then you will be very hard to defeat in battle." Emmeline assured him. "Who knows what will happen when you're in battle. You should practice walking around your house with your eyes closed and see how well you do. If you can fight in the dark, then it won't matter what tricks the enemy uses to try and confuse your sight. When their tricks to blind you fail, they will usually panic, and give you the opening you need to kill them."

"What type of warrior are you?" Bochra couldn't help but ask. "It doesn't seem like you're a normal one."

"I'm not," Emmeline chuckled softly. "Technically, I'm not supposed to be in the Star Empire, so it's not like they can deploy me on the battlefield. Have you learned that in combat it's safest to go straight for the commanding officers because without them, the troops fall apart?"

Bochra nodded, having heard that.

"What I do is like that," Emmeline tried to explain. "I go after specific individuals who pose the greatest threat, and I do it by myself. During war it's generals, during peace it's other threats against the Star Empire. I was the best in the Federation at it, and I'm the best here."

"Wouldn't your targets be protected by energy barriers?" Bochra pressed, enjoying speaking to her more and more. "Energy-based weapons would be detected."

"Most are," Emmeline sighed and hung her head, "which makes things difficult. That's why I practice with melee weapons. You say the blades inside my jacket, right? People nowadays rely so much on phasers and disruptors that they can't defeat an opponent who's not using one, and unless it's Klingons, it rarely crosses their mind that they will find someone like that."

"But you practice with disruptor anyway?" Bochra frowned as his child mind tried to make sense of it. "Is it because sometimes you can use them?"

"Exactly," Emmeline smiled and nodded briefly. "There are times where I can. Guns have two weaknesses though, so I usually don't use them when I'm on assignment. Old-fashioned guns relied on bullets, and without bullets, they are just hunks of metal. Disruptors nowadays still on energy packs, and if the pack drains the disruptor's useless."

Emmeline drew one of her disruptors and pointed it at a tree. "The other problem is they can be detected. Energy barriers will alert someone if an energy-based weapon like a disruptor crosses the threshold. Dampening fields can also shut them down and make them useless. Besides, firing one of these is a lot nosier then throwing a knife, and brighter since it's an energy beam. They don't work very well on stealth missions, which is what I go on. I can't afford to be identified."

"If you're not a normal part of the military then do you work with the Tal Shiar?" Bochra guessed.

"Sort of," Emmeline looked away with a smile, "it's complicated. Technically speaking, I don't even exist. That way the Empire can't be blamed if one of my assignments goes astray or I get caught."

That didn't make any sense to the child since he knew Emmeline existed. She was standing right in front of him after all, so why was she saying she didn't exist? Emmeline shook her head that it was didn't matter and Bochra let it slip away from his mind.

"You know," Emmeline said as she apprised Bochra. "If my daughter was still alive, she'd be about your age."

"Daughter?" Bochra tilted his head to one side. "What happened to her?"

"The Federation killed her," Emmeline tightened one of her hands into a fist. "The Federation is corrupt. There are very few within that are trustworthy. If you happen to find a trustworthy Federation member then you can trust them without a doubt. Betrayal is something "good" Federation members don't do. The trick is finding one you can trust."

Emmeline replaced the power pack with a new set of blanks and held it out to Bochra. "You look like you wanted to try my game. Do you know how to use one?"

"I've seen others train," Bochra took it from Emmeline and she crouched by his side, showing him how to grip it in his small hands and raise it out in front of him.

"Target start!" Emmeline called out.

A holographic sphere appeared in front of Bochra and hovered in midair without moving.

"There, now point straight at the center and shoot," Emmeline told him and let go of his hands. "There's no recoil, nor does the disruptor pull to the one side as you shoot. Because it's an energy beam instead of a bullet gravity doesn't affect it, so just aim as best you can."

Bochra tightened his finger on the trigger and shot. There was no recoil like Emmeline said, and both Emmeline and Bochra were surprised when it landed a direct hit. The holographic orb chimed and recorded the hit. Bochra looked up at Emmeline, and she gave him an impressed look and nodded for him to shoot again. He did so, landing another direct hit.

"Once is luck," Emmeline mused as she kneeled on leg by Bochra's side, "twice has to have either great luck or some skill. Is that your first time with a disruptor?"

Bochra nodded, and Emmeline smiled. "Not bad then. Try shooting with your eyes closed. Remember what I told you about your sight being disrupted on the battlefield?"

Bochra closed his eyes and tried to raise his disruptor. There was a sound emanating from the orb, and its position hadn't changed, but Emmeline could tell Bochra's aim was off. His eyes being closed were affecting him severely, and when he shot it was a clean miss.

Bochra opened his eyes when the sphere didn't chime the hit and lowered the disruptor with a sigh. "That's hard."

"Now you see why you try to blind your enemy first in combat?" Emmeline asked. "Without their sight the vast majority of warriors are hopeless. Of course, they try to blind you as well. Who knows when shooting without your eyes will come in handy."

Emmeline glanced back inside the house, and then narrowed her eyes and took the disruptor from Bochra and stood. Bochra looked at her curiously as she ended the hologram and began to usher Bochra back towards the house.

"It seems your stay of leave is over," Emmeline smiled.

Bochra still didn't understand as they walked to the multi-storied house until he heard sounds of arguing. Then he saw his father walking outside with Delron, and they were indeed arguing. Instinct made him hide behind Emmeline as they approached his father, and he was amazed that she had heard them arguing all the way out here.

"There!" Delron swept a hand towards Emmeline and Bochra. "Bochra's safe you worrywart. Don't you trust Emmi by now?"

"I trust her," Tomalak agreed without hesitation, "but Bochra isn't supposed to know about her."

"He and Patahk made quite a team considering they managed to find out on their own," Emmeline shrugged with her trademark smile. "I thought I might as well meet such astounding espionage agents, but only one of them could come today. I wouldn't mind it if Bochra returned and brought Patahk with him next time."

"That won't happen for some time," Tomalak promised darkly. "You have a new assignment, and Bochra has lessons with his tutor. I don't know what Rehu has to say, but I doubt she'll let Patahk come either. Emmeline is not supposed to exist, and these two knowing about her could get them in trouble later."

"Dontara would disagree," Delron pointed out.

Tomalak gave Delron a fearsome look. "Dontara is a Tal Shiar agent, even if the public is not aware of it. Her opinions are different, especially since Emmeline is working for the Tal Shiar."

"Another assignment," Emmeline interrupted them with a roll of her eyes. "My, you're keeping me busy. I take it they'll be an energy barrier in place so I can't use disruptors?"

Delron nodded and Emmeline sighed dramatically.

"It's a wonder I bother practicing with my disruptors considering how little I use them," Emmeline mused wryly with a dissatisfied look.

She held out her hand, and Delron passed the PADD to Emmeline on cue. On the PADD was the information on her new assignment. Emmeline placed her other hand on Bochra's back, and gently pushed him forward a step towards his father. Bochra looked up at her, and then approached his father.

"Hmm," Emmeline hummed as she looked at the profile of her next assignment. "A Tellarite ambassador, still trying to destabilize relations between them and the Andorians I take it. I'll use Andorian weapons."

Delron nodded that would be suitable. "He has a Betazoid with him, but I know psychics don't affect you."

"Yes," Emmeline agreed, her smile sharper now with a knife-like edge. "They aren't even capable of registering my presence. One will hardly be a problem."

Bochra began to be taken away by his father, and he glanced back at Emmeline, still intrigued by the human with the knife-lined coat. Emmeline looked up from her PADD with her next assignment as if sensing his gaze, and waved goodbye to him with her smile, soft and warm again. Bochra returned her wave with an energetic smile as Tomalak took one of his hands and escorted him away. He wouldn't mind coming back to Emmeline's, next time with Patahk.

* * *

 **This is mostly flashback, and the memory Bochra is thinking about right after Aerv's attack as he and his father are being taken to _Enterprise's_ sickbay. He's only semi-conscious and this is what crosses his mind. Her lesson with Bochra about fighting with his eyes closed came in handy, wouldn't you say?**

 **What do you think about Emmeline compared to Kaylee? Do you have any guesses about what Emmeline's job among the Star Empire is, and what her assignment is? It's not everyday you see someone walking around wearing a coat lined with throwing knives.**


	11. The Depths of Treason

"I have no idea what to do with him," Tomalak muttered under his breath.

His wounds had been tended to, and lying on one of the beds was Bochra. He was still unconscious from his injuries and there were bandages wrapped around his eyes. Sitting on the floor by the doctor's office was Kaylee, still nursing a headache from her mind meld with Lavok. There were no beds for her, and she didn't particularly need one.

She smiled at Tomalak's mutter, the back of one hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright light of sickbay. Thanks to her mindmeld with the Romulan, her emotions were rather high, and she smiled without thinking when she heard the irritation in Tomalak's voice. Logically, the traitor Aerv would be handed to authorities within the Star Empire once the D'deridex rendezvoused with _Enterprise_ and returned the Romulans home. Whether or not the Romulans were that logical remained to be seen because right now Kaylee wasn't feeling very logical. The information and memories she had gotten from Lavok's mind were still making her head spin.

Tomalak looked at the decoder he had removed from Aerv and then clenched his fingers around it. Normally, he would turn Aerv to the authorities and have his treason dealt with, but Aerv had said he was following orders. For some reason, Tomalak believed him. There was a traitor in the Star Empire, and whoever they were they were in a very high position of power.

Judging from this decoder, Aerv had been a member of the Tal Shiar. The only ones who could give a Tal Shiar agent orders that they would follow was a Tal Shiar. The first guesses were the Tal Shiar Chairmen who led the organization, Praetor Maiek R'Mor, and a few members of the Senate or other high ranking Tal Shiar. Something very dangerous was happening inside the Star Empire, and it worried Tomalak. He didn't even know how Emmeline fit into all of this let alone who was giving these orders.

Tomalak knew only one thing. One of the leaders of the Romulan Star Empire was a traitor.

He didn't look up as the doors to sickbay opened and Geordi La Forge entered. La Forge looked around and then approached Kaylee. She lowered her hand from her eyes when Geordi overshadowed her, and looked up at him curiously.

"Geordi? What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing much," La Forge said a little nervously. "Can I talk to you outside?"

"As long as you don't mean outside _Enterprise_ then sure," Kaylee remarked sarcastically and stood.

La Forge sighed when she said that, relieved that Kaylee was still Kaylee despite the mind meld. The two of them left sickbay, Kaylee still rubbing her forehead, and went into the hallway.

"All right," Kaylee said once the door closed. "What's up now?"

"Normally Worf would probably be the one to tell you, but I know you and him don't get along very well," La Forge stalled. "I thought I should tell you before it became public knowledge."

"Tell me what?" Kaylee asked seriously.

La Forge wasn't sure what to say.

"Just say it," Kaylee sighed and shook her head. "Whatever you plan to say just say it."

La Forge supposed that would be the best, and took a breath. "Saavak is dead."

Kaylee narrowed her eyes and slowly looked up at La Forge. "What did you just say?"

"We found Saavak's body in one of the cargo bays," La Forge repeated. "We think the Romulan traitor came across her after he escaped from sickbay. He used the transporter in the cargo bay to reach Tomalak's position and avoid the guards. The power was mostly shut off in the bay, so Red Alert wouldn't have sounded inside. There was no way for her to know what was going on, and the Romulan ambushed her."

Kaylee slowly looked down, hand shaking. La Forge was still talking, but Kaylee didn't hear his words anymore. Saavak was the person who had raised her in place of her real parents, and the only family Kaylee knew. Now she was dead because of that traitor?

"Thank you for telling me," Kaylee interrupted La Forge as he tried to say something comforting.

She turned on her heel and left, not really knowing where she was going. La Forge let her go unchallenged. He had lost close friends before, but she had just lost her only family. There was no way for him to know what was she was feeling right now. Hopefully she'd go see Troi and talk to her a little. Dianne was the ship's counselor after all, and this was what she was familiar with. La Forge hoped that was what happened.

Kaylee didn't go see Troi though, and she didn't wander into Ten Forward where Guinan was. She went to the last place she should go, an idea forming in her head. It was all the fault of that Romulan Aerv that Saavak was dead, and from what she had felt and heard from the other Romulans, he had been working under orders. She wanted to find out who they were, and why they had given those orders that had ended in Saavak's death.

Aerv probably wouldn't care about Savaak since she was a Vulcan and a simple civilian casualty, but Kaylee did. Considering that she was planning to disable the guards and get the information from Aerv forcibly it wasn't a very Vulcan thing to do, but she wasn't feeling like a Vulcan. Since she didn't suppress her emotions she had handled Lavok's Romulan mentality without destabilizing her, but there was an aftereffect. Right now, Kaylee was feeling as irrational as a Romulan.

Aerv was trapped behind a forcefield with his hands cuffed behind his back when Kaylee entered. There was only one guard at the station, and he looked up in surprise when Kaylee approached.

"Sorry Kaylee," he said apologetically, "authorized personnel only. I know you get told that all the time and you get around it, but not this time. If the security footage of his fight with the other Romulans is true then he's way too dangerous."

"I want to ask him something," Kaylee said calmly. "I am one of only two telepaths on this ship."

"I am aware of that," the guard agreed, "but I need permission from the captain to let you anywhere near him, or the Romulan Commander. I'm not really sure."

Kaylee tilted her head as she thought about it, and then raised her head back to the guard. "Why don't you ask the Captain about it?"

The guard was wisely cautious of lowered his eyes from her, but foolishly looked away to activate the communicator. While he had his head lowered, Kaylee crept up behind him. He jumped when glanced up and failed to see Kaylee, and suddenly realized she was behind him.

She pinched the shoulder of the security guard near the base of his neck with one hand. Nearly instantly, the guard froze and then collapsed into a heap without making a sound. Kaylee let him fall with a smirk, glad she was half-Vulcan. The Vulcan nerve pinch might not work on fellow Vulcans or Romulans because of how similar their biology was to Vulcans, but it worked marvelous on humans.

Her action had attracted Aerv's attention, and he watched her without moving or making a sound as she took the guard's phaser and walked over to stand in front of his cell.

"If it isn't the one who revealed my presence," Aerv mused to Kaylee. "I take it you aren't here to rescue me."

"No," Kaylee promised darkly. "I am not, Romulan. You killed one of _Enterprise_ 's crew earlier today."

"I did?" Aerv asked and looked at the ceiling to try and remember. "Well there was one Vulcan in the cargo bay. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ah, I see. You're Vulcan as well. Did you know her?"

Kaylee tightened her grip on the phaser, confirming Aerv's guess. "She was my surrogate."

"It appears I have upset someone," Aerv smiled.

"Yes you did," Kaylee agreed. "Have you ever heard of a mind flare?"

"Not of a Vulcan using it," Aerv hummed lightly. "A mindflare requires feeling anger and using your telepathy to turn your anger into someone's pain. A living calculator can't do it."

"No," Kaylee agreed, "which is why Vulcans don't use them. But a half-human can."

She smiled, and Aerv took a step back. It was obvious she was a mixed-blood from her appearance, and Aerv scolded himself for being so flippant with her. She raised her empty hand out towards Aerv to focus her attack.

"Pain," she whispered.

Aerv's head jerked back as something like fire burned the nerves in his mind and he banged against the wall of his cell. This was a mindflare? It felt worse than a mindprobe and despite his training as a Tal Shiar agent to resist telepathy he couldn't stop it. Tilaria walked closer and deactivated the barrier to his cell. Blood started to drip from Aerv's nose and he dropped to his knees as Kaylee knelt in front of him.

"You killed the wrong Vulcan, Romulan," Kaylee warned him.

Then she shot him with the phaser. He cringed and then slumped to the ground loudly. Kaylee lowered the phaser and rolled him over so he was on his back. The phaser had done its job and he was soundly stunned. Now that she had weakened him, all that was left was to get the reason why.

Why had he done this his fellow Romulans? If he hadn't destroyed _Terix_ then Saavak would still be alive, so why? What was so important that Saavak had needed to die for? What?

"My mind to your mind," Kaylee hissed as she pressed her fingers to his temple. "My thoughts to your thoughts."

The mind meld took. Memories flashed as Kaylee was submerged in Aerv's consciousness. Some were similar to Lavok, growing up in the Star Empire. It seemed that Aerv wasn't from Romulus like Lavok was, but had been assigned there after he joined the Tal Shiar. There were other memories with emotions and personal thought interwoven as Kaylee lived through them, but one was suddenly stuck in her mind.

Aerv had traveled to a distant part of Romulus on a private estate and walked into a two-story house with much of the lower floor walled with glass. He entered and met with another Romulan inside. The Romulan was in civilian clothes, but from his stance and the air around him was obviously a military officer. When he turned, Kaylee saw that his black hair was worn long to his shoulders instead of cropped at his ears as most Romulans did, and his the ends curled slightly with bangs framing his face.

"Delron," Aerv greeted the longhaired Romulan and saluted.

Delron waved away the salute casually, and Kaylee could see through Aerv's senses that the back of Delron's right hand was scarred as if it had lacerated by the talons of a raptor. It was an ironic feature considering the eagle was the Romulan crest, and Kaylee, or Aerv at the moment, knew that it had been made by an eagle when Delron was a child. Aerv had read it in Delron's file.

"Ah, here she is," Delron looked up as someone glided silently into the reception area from the kitchen as silent as a stalking cat, and her steps were equally feral.

"What is it?" A woman asked in a voice similar to a silken purr as she walked inside.

There was a wine glass partially full with what looked like Romulan ale in one hand, and in the nook of her other arm was a pale brown and white ball of fuzz that cooed. Unless Aerv was mistaken, the six-inch long ball of fluff was a tribble. Walking around her feet was a black and orange Earth cat with bright green eyes, and she was meowing.

"Hold on," the woman sighed and knelt down on one knee to scratch the cat between her ears.

The cat hopped onto her hindlegs and headbutted the woman's palm.

"What is it?" She asked without looking up. "Guests again Delron? Normally things are so quiet here."

"A new Chairman of the Tal Shiar was recently appointed," Delron explained, "I believe his name is Vrih. You are quite an unorthodox asset, and he wants to make sure you check out."

The woman stopped petting the cat and stood, her dark blue knee-length longcoat rustling with the movement. "I suppose I cannot blame them."

Kaylee froze in the memory, stunned to see that the woman was a mirror image of Kaylee, only older, without Vulcan features, and with a scar on the right side of her face. She knew who that was, but she didn't believe what she saw.

"My name is Emmeline, Tal Shiar asset," Kaylee's mother greeted with the ale and tribble still in her arms. "I am a former member of the Federation as my file states, and I used to be given assignments by Federation's Sector 31, and now by your Tal Shiar. Tal Shiar's new leader, Vrih was it?, has nothing to worry about. The last Tal Shiar Chairmen had no complaints, so I doubt this one will."

Emmeline, Kaylee thought as she saw the woman, that was her mother. Her mother was a member of the Romulan Star Empire, an asset of Sector 31? Saavak had always said she was a Federation science officer, but it seemed that couldn't be more wrong. What was Sector 31 to begin with?

The memory slid away although Kaylee tried her best to keep ahold of it, and there was a collage of others one after another, bits and pieces. Aerv was next sparring with other Tal Shiar agents, honing his skills. Then he was at a social reception with officials in a formal suit, undercover and gathering information. He was next seen in engineering onboard a starship, not the _Terix_ , giving out commands as the Romulan equivalent of Red Alert sounded. It seemed they were in battle.

Then a memory stuck. Aerv was meeting with a Tal Shiar official, saluting respectfully. There was a PADD on the desk that showed a picture of Commander Tomalak, and Kaylee was able to read the letters on it. Her mother's name was listed along with Delron, the Romulan with her mother, and both Bochra and Patahk, the crew of _Pi_ , were on the list. There were a few others she didn't recognize: Dontara, Rehu, and Vira.

"Your targets are Tomalak," the Romulan behind the desk told Aerv. "Patahk was successfully killed, but Bochra survived _Pi_ 's sabotage so you will need to ensure his death as well. This contamination must be stopped now. Emmeline is simply too dangerous, even dead."

Kaylee couldn't make out who the Romulan was

The Romulan was sitting in the shadows behind his desk, and Kaylee couldn't see who it was. There was something about his voice though that made Kaylee want to shield away from the memory. This had to be when Aerv received his orders to destroy _Terix_.

"This is a one-way mission," the Romulan promised Aerv. "The agents who eliminated Dontana and Rehu did not return, and you must eliminate both Tomalak and his son Bochra."

"I will," Aerv promised strongly, Kaylee speaking the words as she lived the memory.

Son? Tomalak had a son? Why did her mother's name come up on the list? Emmeline had something to do with these killings? Who was the Romulan that was speaking?

His tone was honeyed, and his words clear and light although somewhat quiet as if he meant to whisper. Kaylee narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't see the Romulan sitting behind the desk. He was the one who had given the Tal Shiar orders to kill fellow Romulans, but who was he?

Aerv handed the PADD back to the other Romulan, and he took it. "I understand my mission, and the importance to the safety of the Star Empire."

"There is no greater threat to the Star Empire at the moment," the Romulan assured Aerv. "Not the Klingons or the Federation. Emmeline is dead, and all that remains is removing her old allies and those who have been in deep contact with her."

"Yes sir," Aerv said strongly and saluted in the Romulan fashion.

Then Kaylee was in Engineering aboard _Terix_ , locking a shift gauge between two panels and sabotaging the ship so it would be destroyed. Aerv was the one had destroyed Terix after all, and Kaylee felt fear from the memory strike through her as Lavok knelt down inside the conduit Aerv had just been in.

Since he was pretending to be a lowly Uhlan, Aerv couldn't stop Lavok from looking inside without raising suspicion. He was caught, and let his nervousness betray him. Foolishly, he had been left Engineering, and that move had been what had tipped Kaylee off to his identity and revealed him. Aerv regretted failing his mission, especially when the stakes were so high.

Kaylee batted aside the memories of Terix, and tried to find the spot through the sea of memories that showed the Romulan who had given the orders that had ended up killing Saavak, the traitor. She couldn't find the point in the sea of his memories, of every second of his life in his mind. Like Vulcans, Romulans could live over 250 years and Aerv was currently almost seven decades. It was too many memories, too much life, for Kaylee to find that brief fragment again.

Then she felt her hold start to slip, like water running through her fingers. The memories were fading away even though she had not stopped the mind meld. Kaylee and Aerv were returning to being two separate beings. She had no idea what was happening until she felt Deanna Troi start to call out her name. Troi was cutting her off from the meld, and that meant someone had found Kaylee.

Kaylee allowed her personality and Aerv's to separate, but echoes of his memories still rang in her mind just as Lavok's did. She was drawn back to her real body, and went reluctantly. There was no dose of lexorin waiting for her this time, and Kaylee felt her hands slip from Aerv's face as she was tugged away from him.

As Kaylee returned to being herself she became aware that she was propped up against a wall near Aerv's cell. He was coughing up blood, and more was dripping from his eyes, nose, and ears. The pathways of a mind were very delicate, and Kaylee had not been as gentle as she could have been with her meld. Dr. Crusher scanned Aerv with a Tricorder while Worf stood nearby. Tomalak was also present with Riker, although Kaylee couldn't make out much more through her haze.

There was a chime from Riker's combadge, and he tapped it once. "Riker here."

"This is bridge," Captain Picard announced. "Two Romulan warbirds just decloaked. They're asking to speak to Tomalak and to begin transporting the _Terix_ survivors aboard their ship. They say they have security standing by to take the saboteur into custody."

"Now?" Riker demanded.

"Yes," Picard said. "Is there a problem?"

"Possibly," Riker admitted after a moment. "Kaylee just did a mind meld with the traitor. She looks really out of it, and I think she might have damaged the traitor."

"Damaged?" Picard looked at the view screen showing the Romulan warbirds with a curious look. "What does that mean?"

"It means he sustained brain damage," Dr. Crusher answered after activating her own combadge. "I read severe neural degeneration and damage to the blood vessels in the brain. It doesn't look so much like she did a mind _meld_ as a mind _shred_."

"Mindshredding takes more focus," Kaylee said dazedly. "You don't care about reading the memories, only tearing them up. One by one, attacking the memories and the neural pathways connecting to them. A mindshred kills. He's alive."

Riker stared wide-eyed at the wall and then down at Kaylee. "You know how to mindshred someone? Kaylee!"

"I've never done a mindshred before," Kaylee defended, pupils dangerously dilated. "They take emotion to do like a mindflare, and since I use my emotions I thought I might as well learn. Saavak got all the files I needed. She's never tried to make me suppress my emotions. I'm more powerful with them, and a much greater asset."

The first thing that crossed Tomalak's mind was that the Vulcans had allowed Kaylee to keep her emotions to turn her into a better weapon. They had taken advantage of her, a perfectly logical thing to do to take advantage of an emotional Vulcan. There couldn't be many Vulcans with the emotions needed to do the things Kaylee could do. Then the name of the Vulcan sank in.

"Saavak?" Tomalak repeated quietly, as quiet as taking a breath.

"Kaylee's surrogate," Riker explained and sighed. "She was just killed by your traitor, probably why Kaylee came here and attacked him."

Saavak had been involved with Kaylee? This was the proof Tomalak needed that it wasn't a coincidence that Kaylee looked like Emmeline. The Vulcans would not assign someone like Saavak to monitor Kaylee unless she was a very valuable asset indeed. Her emotions alone wouldn't be enough to garner Saavak's involvement. Kaylee had to be Emmeline's daughter. It was the only way to explain why the Vulcans would be _so interested_ that they would arrange _Saavak_ to be her surrogate. This was the connection he had been looking for.

"Commander Tomalak," Riker said, jolting Tomalak from his daze.

Tomalak realized he had clenched his teeth, and relaxed his jaw enough to answer. "Yes?"

"The Warbrids want to speak to you," Riker explained.

"I imagine they do," Tomalak agreed.

He looked over first Kaylee, who was still sitting there as if she was either drunk or had taken a hit to the head, or both, and then at Aerv. The traitor was still bleeding and unconscious. He wished he knew how to explain this.

* * *

 **There is more to everyone in this story. Remember, intrigue and subterfuge are part of the Romulan way and everyone is playing a role in this game. Emmeline is very important. I don't know how to describe a mind meld from a first person POV, so i guessed. If you have any ideas about how that works i will be free to hear them out.**


	12. Enterprise's Reporter

"Hey Wes!"

Wesley Crusher had his nose in a PADD, having been relieved of duty because of how big the Romulan's involvement had made things. He turned and smiled when he saw his friend, a quarter Betazoid/human hybrid his age named Sam Salazar. Salazar had a PADD and he waved it at Wesley as he approached.

"What's up Sam?" Wesley asked his friend curiously.

"Have you gotten close to the Romulans?" Sam grilled him in excitement.

Wesley wasn't even surprised by the question and shook his head. "I got shipped off the bridge, and I won't be back on it until after they leave. The security guards haven't let anyone near them."

"Have you tried feigning a headache and going into sickbay for treatment?" Sam asked with his normal sly smile. "The Romulans _are_ in sickbay."

"Which is why we aren't allowed near the primary sickbay," Wesley repeated. "Let me guess, you tried that already?"

Salazar smiled affirmative, "didn't work. You're not a civilian like me though so maybe you can get closer."

"I don't want to get in trouble," Wesley warned his friend.

"Trust me, it'll work," Salazar assured him.

"Famous last words," Wesley muttered.

"Why do you always say that?" Salazar asked in exasperation.

"Because you keep quoting famous last words," Wesley shot back. "That's not the best thing to be quoting."

"Meh," Salazar muttered and waved a hand in dismissal.

He held out the PADD to Wesley, and Wesley, after giving him an exasperated look, took it with his empty hand. Wesley placed it on top of the one he was holding and looked over the data. Salazar had gotten a lot of information from other crewmembers and reports from the computer, something classified to a normal civilian.

"Who helped you get the reports?" Wesley asked in surprise.

"A good reporter never reveals his sources," Salazar quoted.

"Don't you mean a good magician never reveals his secrets?" Wesley asked .

"Close enough," Salazar shrugged.

Wesley shook his head t Salazar's normal flippant attitude and scrolled sideways across the screen. Instead of more information, he saw an article.

"What is this?" He asked. "An article on the Phantom Slasher?"

Salazar gave him a blank look until Wesley showed the PADD screen to him, and then snatched it back. "Oops. That's a report for school. You know, we students not in Starfleet have to do them every now and then."

Wesley looked away a little shyly, aware that his new rank had secluded him from his friends. "Why are you writing an article about her?"

"The topic for this is essay says I can," Salazar answered simply. "It says that we have to evaluate the impact of a planetary or interstellar threat within the past five years, and the response taken against it. Besides, I'm curious about her. Exposing her identity would be the biggest scoop of the century."

"I don't think the teacher meant an assassin," Wesley warned him. "Besides, it's been four years since she killed anyone. For her to stop so suddenly after killing so many people means she's probably dead, whoever she was."

"She's also the most famous assassin in the past century, and a scourge to the Alpha and Beta quadrants." Salazar repeated with a grin. "She operated for thirty years and then vanished four years ago. Her identity to this day remains unknown, and no one ever took credit for killing her so she _might not be dead_. During her prime, she hit every superpower present, including kills on almost a hundred different Federation planets. An entire house in the Romulan Star Empire was executed by her, and it was a noble house with half a hundred members."

"No one even knows for certain if the Phantom Slasher was a 'she.'" Wesley pointed out with a quiet mutter.

"She was amazing," Salazar said as if impressed, which he was. "The Phantom Slasher is the only known being besides an android who couldn't be sensed by telepaths. Even if the psychic was standing right in front of them they couldn't sense her, but since she has lifesigns so she's not an android. Since she's never failed to kill her target and never left any witnesses alive we were never able to get information on her."

"And she very rarely uses particle weapons," Salazar continued when Wesley opened his mouth to stop him. "Her main weapons are a pair of shortswords she wields like daggers, but she also wears a blue longcoat lined with throwing knives on the inside. The only thing we know is that she wears that jacket. If she doesn't wear it and uses phasers then she could kill without authorities being able to tie it back to her, so I doubt her kills aren't in the hundreds. I bet she has over a thousand."

"She probably did," Wesley said seriously. "I guess she's good for the report, but why do I have the feeling that your curiosity with the Romulans has something to do with her?"

"Because you have good instincts," Salazar said appreciatively. "Remember, no one knows who hired her to kill all those people, or if she was hired. All the factions were hit, so it's doubtful one of them hired her. I agree with most people in that I don't think she was killing so many for fun or for a challenge. The next conclusion would be that she's a foreign agent getting the lay of the land and eliminating potential threats before an invasion."

"If there was going to be an invasion then it would have happened four years ago," Wesley shook his head.

"Agreed," Salazar admitted. "So she's either a freelancer killing to kill, which is doubtful, or someone is doing a _very_ good job of hiding their connections to her."

The loudness to his voice quieted as he excitedly said his second idea, and Wesley glanced at him and then shook his head. "And you think it's the second one."

Salazar grinned, and Wesley gave the hallway in front of him a dissatisfied look.

"You're too intrusive," Wesley snipped. "If you keep nosing around for sensitive information someone's going to shoot you. If someone in the Quadrant _is_ handling her then that's especially true because they won't want their connection made public."

"A reporter has to take risks in order to get a good story," Salazar rationed Wesley's concern and then dismissed it. "This incident with the Romulans is going to make a great one, but I'm more curious if they know something about the Phantom Slasher. Most people think that they're the last ones to have been her handler because she eliminated an entire noble house of theirs, but something about that smells fishy to me."

Wesley gave him a confused look so Salazar continued in an excited voice. "The Phantom Slasher's hit to the Romulans was too neat. It was almost as if her strike was an inside job, and the Romulans gave her the information she needed. Logically, if they have one connection to her, they would have others. This is the only chance I've probably ever going to get to ask them about this."

"That's really dangerous Sam," Wesley said skittishly, glad that his friend wasn't permitted to see the Romulans.

"Life usually is," Salazar assured Wesley.

Wesley gave him a serious look, but Sam Salazar just smiled again. Salazar's smile vanished as he was looking at Wesley, and he looked past him. There was a flurry of sounds, and Wesley turned towards the source so he and Salazar were facing the same way.

Riker was walking briskly down the hallway with another security guard by his side, speaking rapidly with a Romulan in uniform. The Romulan was holding Riker's combadge and speaking into it in rihan. He sounded frustrated.

The Romulan stopped walking close to the boys, not noticing them. He curled his hand around the combadge so his words wouldn't' be transmitted, and looked at Riker.

"When I get to ahold of Commander Hvaid I am going to strangle him," he hissed at Riker in English.

Riker seemed amused by the Romulan's ire. "Can't you tell them to stand down Commander? _Enterprise_ wasn't the one that destroyed your ship."

"I know," Tomalak said.

The confidence with which he responded to Riker was a bit of a surprise. It sounded as if Tomalak truly believed Enterprise was innocent, maybe that he even trusted them a little. He was venting to Riker as if Riker were a Romulan. Wesley and Salazar looked at each other, amazed to see the Romulan getting along with Riker so well.

"Commander?" Salazar repeated, and then his eyes lit up. "That has to be Commander Tomalak!"

Salazar took a step forward towards the Romulan, but Wesley put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head no. His friend waved off his hand and stepped towards Tomalak. Tomalak released his fingers from the combadge so he could transmit his voice again.

"Hvaid," Tomalak said with laxing patience in his tense voice. "Stand down already, and power down your weapons. This ship is not our enemy. Our enemy is one of the Romulans onboard my ship."

"What?" Hvaid replied. "Are you crazy?"

One of Tomalak's eyebrows twitched and he replied in a voice similar to a hiss "No, I am not. You, I am not so sure about. For the second time, _Enterprise_ has come to our aid. You are not to open fire on them."

"Why not?" Hvaid demanded.

"For one thing my crew and I are still onboard," Tomalak said tensely.

"I was going to wait until you were safe," Hvaid said in an obvious tone.

"Who is the Commander of the other D'deridex?" Tomalak asked.

"Why?" Commander Hvaid said in surprise.

Why? Tomalak didn't want to explain and after a moment, he relented.

"Vira R'Mor," Hvaid muttered.

"The Praetor's daughter," Tomalak murmured. "Patch me into her, now."

Even though both he and Hvaid were the same rank, the Commander relented and there was silence. After a few seconds, there was a feminine voice on the line. Vira's voice had a song-like quality that reminded Tomalak of swaying tides.

"Tomalak," Vira began. "I hope you haven't strangled anyone yet."

"Only the traitor that destroyed my ship," Tomalak assured her, "and he was not a member of _Enterprise_. Understand?"

"Understood," Vira promised, a little surprised by how shortened Tomalak 's temper sounded.

"Where's your hotheaded brother?" Tomalak asked.

"Back on Romulus," Vira rolled her eyes as she sat in the Commander's chair on the bridge of her ship. "You think father would send Delron too far away? He's worse than the Federation's James Kirk. Besides, he's not going to let both of his only remaining children in the danger zone at once."

Comparing James Kirk to Delron was very accurate Tomalak thought. To be fair, Tomalak had never directly had contact with Kirk, but his record and reputation among the Federation was just like Delron's.

"Are you sure about _Enterprise_?" Vira repeated.

"They aren't involved," Tomalak repeated, "this time."

"Alright, I'll get Hvaid to stand down," Vira promised.

"How?" Tomalak asked curiously.

"I'll lock weapons on him," Vira told him, and it was obvious from her voice that she was smiling. "That should get his attention."

"You're as bad as your brother," Tomalak said seriously.

"I am of the house R'Mor," Vira reminded him with a light laugh and then ended the transmission.

Yes, she most certainly was. Tomalak shook his head at the combadge and then surrendered it back to Riker. He was still amazed that the Praetor of the Star Empire was a R'Mor, and he still wasn't sure if that was good or bad. They got the job done, but they usually did it in a somewhat politically inconvenient manner.

"The situation should be under control for now," Tomalak assured Riker. "The sooner my crew and I are returned the better for everyone."

"Your crewmembers are being escorted to the transporter room," Riker assured Tomalak. "Those unable to walk are being transported directly."

Tomalak nodded briskly, eager to return to Romulan space. He needed to rein in Vira quickly before she started acting too much like a R'Mor, and the best way to rein her in was to end the situation.

"Excuse me," Salazar spoke up softly and stepped forward with the PADD in front of him, audio recording on. "May I speak to you?"

"Salazar," Riker sighed, "not now."

Tomalak gave Riker a curious look and the human officer sighed. "Salazar is something of a fledgling reporter, and a general nuisance."

Instantly, Salazar turned red. "I just wanted to ask if the Romulans knew anything about the Phantom Slasher."

"What?" Riker said in dubious surprise. "Why are you asking about that? That has nothing to do with the current situation."

"A curious question," Tomalak replied neutrally, hiding his surprise with the ease of old practice. "It is not very relevant, and I'm quite busy human."

He glanced at Riker, and Riker motioned for Salazar to stand aside. Salazar was picking the wrong time to start nosing around. After a moment's hesitation, Salazar stepped aside as he was ordered and Tomalak and Riker continued walking with the security agent trailing behind them.

"That went well," Wesley said sarcastically once they had entered a turbolift and headed to the bridge.

He turned, expecting to see Salazar looking put out. Instead, he was smiling.

"I agree," Salazar told him. "That went quite well."

Wesley didn't understand and Salazar sighed.

"He wasn't expecting that question," Salazar exemplified. "He hid it well, but he was surprised."

"You're only a quarter Betazoid," Wesley reminded him.

"I'm no telepath," Salazar agreed, "but I can still sense emotional distress. I could sense it in Tomalak when I asked that question. When you ask someone a question they always think of the answer, maybe for only a moment, but they think of it."

Salazar smiled at Wesley, green irises bright with the giddiness of success. "I think I might be onto something."

* * *

 **Salazar won't amount to much right now, but his line of questioning will complicate things later on. He is right after all, the Romulans are the the Phantom Slasher's (Emmeline's) handlers. The house R'Mor is somewhat dysfunctional compared to others, and they are very bizarre Romulans. They're very bizarre sentients in general, and one of them is the current Praetor. Believe me, the whole house acts like Vira.**


	13. A Calculated Risk

There was a bandage wrapped around Bochra's eyes and others around his chest underneath his black long-sleeved undershirt. He cautiously managed to stand from the bed, step unsteady from his injuries. La Forge rested a hand on his shoulder to help steady him.

"Easy," La Forge cautioned him. "We can beam you directly to your ship. You don't have to walk to the transporter room. Dr. Crusher even said you shouldn't be on your feet yet."

"I say otherwise," Bochra argued. "I know my limits better then she does although she's a good doctor."

"Agreed," La Forge smiled.

Around the two of them, the last of the Romulans were leaving. Ele, a security officer who was often partnered with Bochra, smiled. His right arm was in futuristic sling, the bones in it having been numerously broken all the way from his fingers to his shoulder. This had caused rupturing of the blood vessels and nerve damage, and all Crusher had been able to do was cut off the nerve input so he wouldn't move and damage it more. Romulan surgeons should be able to repair the damage done when the support beam from _Terix_ had landed on his arm.

Bochra's faith in La Forge and _Enterprise_ 's cooperation had coaxed the other Romulans to lower their guard slightly, and Ele spoke to La Forge. "He heals too quickly, trust me."

"It comes in handy," Bochra promised him.

This was thanks to Emmeline playing around and refining his DNA. He hadn't asked her to enhance him, but she had ended up doing so anyway. If she hadn't enhanced his immune system and healing capabilities then he would have been killed by a strain of the choriocytosis virus that had mutated to kill Romulans. The virus worked by attacking the blood cells so the victim suffocated internally as the cells lost the ability to transmit oxygen. It took a week to kill, and by the time Bochra had finally been diagnosed with it he had a day left to live.

The only known cure involved strobolin, one of the rarest substances in the Milky Way galaxy, and there hadn't been enough time to find some. There was a way to create a synthesized version to give him a few extra days before his body became immune to it, but they simply weren't able to in time. Emmeline had taken matters into her own hands and modified Bochra's DNA to create new blood cells that were immune to the choriocytosis's effect. She was an expert in genetics, and to this day Bochra enjoyed the side effects of his augmented recovery capabilities.

Ele went ahead of Bochra and La Forge with Sienae, trusting the _Enterprise_ officer to be able to help his friend. It was an astounding amount of trust coming from Romulans, but _Enterprise_ was not their enemy. Considering what they believed about non-Romulans, Picard had been unbelievable. Since Nira R'Mor had, ahem, _convinced_ Commander Hvaid to stand down, the pressure had been removed.

La Forge began to help Bochra walk to the transporter room, Bochra not trusting himself to walk correctly. Unlike _Terix_ , he didn't know _Enterprise_ well enough to walk around without walking into a bulkhead or door.

"You know," La Forge mentioned. "This is the second time you've been on _Enterprise_ , and the second time you've needed my help to walk to the transporter."

"I seem to be turning this into a bad habit," Bochra agreed with a smile.

La Forge could hear the smile in his voice, and that made him smile in turn. He could make a good joke about the blind leading the blind here, but he wasn't sure if Bochra would get it. Instead, he raised a point that had been bothering him.

"I thought on Galorndon Core you said your name was Bochra," La Forge asked curiously.

"It is," Bochra admitted. "My full name is Bochra i-Ki Baratan tr'Tomalak, but that's only for formal occasions. When I first met you, I didn't want you to know that I was related to Commander Tomalak, so I introduced myself by my first name instead of my house name."

"House Tomalak," La Forge repeated and shook his head. "So you'd introduce yourself as Bochra Tomalak normally. I guess I should be calling you Tomalak."

"I don't mind if you call me Bochra," Bochra admitted, surprising himself since La Forge was a Federation officer. "You've been calling me that already."

Geordi glanced over at him in surprise, and then nodded. "My full name is Gerodi La Forge. You can call me Geordi."

"Geordi," Bochra repeated. "All right. Do you know how Kaylee is doing?"

La Forge looked down as they entered a turbolift, calling out the floor before answering. "Deck 14! Dr. Crusher assigned her to bedrest. She needs to rest, but she will make a full recovery. It will take longer for her personality to stabilize. Apparently, it's in flux right now from Lavok and Aerv's personalities mixing with hers."

The turbolift stopped, and the doors opened with a hiss. They walked out and went down the hallway towards the transporter.

"What's going to happen when you go back to Romulus if I can ask?" La Forge queried.

"We'll be sent to a medical facility, and then debriefed once we've healed," Bochra guessed. "The Tal Shiar will likely have questions, and Aerv will be taken into custody. I doubt much will come from it since he was following Tal Shiar orders. Since so few of the crew survived I doubt Tomalak will get another ship, so we'll be dispersed among the military once we've recovered. No doubt, the Praetor will try to promote father to Admiral again. He's tried three times, and father's turned him down every time."

"He _has_?" La Forge said in surprise. "Why?"

"Paperwork bores him," Bochra quoted. "He would rather be on the bridge of a starship."

La Forge smiled, unaware Tomalak was like that.

"I think it's from spending too much time with the R'Mor's," Bochra guessed.

"R'Mor?" La Forge repeated cautiously. "What are they?"

"One of our houses," Bochra promised. "House Tomalak and House Cretak are two of their oldest allies. Our current Praetor is of House R'Mor. They're a little unorthodox… To give you an example, do you know how Commander Vira got Commander Hvaid to stand down?"

"He's the commander of the warbird that almost shot at us," Bochra guessed, "and Vira the other warbird."

"Yes," Bochra assured him. "She locked her D'deridex's weapons on him. Vira is of House R'Mor."

La Forge exhaled. "That's a surprise. Things must be interesting if your Praetor is House R'Mor."

"They always are," Bochra smiled.

By now they had reached the transporter room, and the doors hissed open at their approach. They entered, and La Forge saw through his VISOR that there was one person standing at the transporter controls. He stopped in surprise when he realized from his VISOR's readings that she was half-Vulcan, and he knew her.

"Kaylee?" La Forge asked in surprise. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"I should be," Kaylee agreed as she inputted coordinates, "but I'll rest later. I have something to do."

"What are you talking about?" La Forge asked in surprise as he helped Bochra to the transporter pad.

"Word will spread that the Romulan's own Tal Shiar is destroying ships," Kaylee informed La Forge mildly. "Things will start to become dangerous if something isn't done, and I intend to do something. If I don't then the Klingons or others might take advantage of this and strike. The Romulans would retaliate and that would lead to war. Logically, this should be prevented. War is not a good thing no matter what the Klingons say. My plan has been approved already."

"By who?" La Forge asked as he walked to stand in front of Kaylee.

"Vira R'Mor," Kaylee answered and grabbed La Forge.

Bochra's head jerked up in surprise when he heard that, and he heard La Forge struggle for a moment, and then silence. Something, La Forge likely, was laid on the ground. He hesitated in front of the transporter pad, but heard nothing.

"Get on the pad," Kaylee's voice suddenly ordered Bochra sharply. "I'm beaming us to Vira's warbird. She'll set course for Romulus as soon as we're onboard."

"Geordi?" Bochra asked, hoping he would respond.

"He's fine," Kaylee promised him. "I just knocked him out with a nerve pinch. Now get on the pad."

"What's going on?" Bochra demanded. "I obviously missed something because last time I checked you were a Federation citizen, not a Romulan spy."

"I am not a spy!" Kaylee replied sharply, and then sighed. "My emotions are all over the place. Trust me, I'm not usually like this. Let me try and put this a different way. I don't a war to start if I can avoid it. In one move I can stabilize the quadrant before it destabilizes, and that's by finding out who the traitor, the _real_ traitor, is."

"The traitor?" Bochra demanded as Kaylee grabbed his elbow and helped drag him to the transporter. "What do you mean? No, do you know who gave Aerv his orders? Your mind meld worked?"

"Not his name or face," Kaylee admitted with a sharp tssk, "but I know his voice. If I can hear it again I will recognize it. That's why Vira's smuggling me to Romulus."

"You've got to be kidding me," Bochra shook his head frantically as he stepped onto the transporter pad. "You're going to Romulus to find out the identity of the traitor that set this up? Why are you helping the Empire? You're Federation!"

"Not out of the goodness in my heart," Kaylee said sarcastically. "I already told you. Things will destabilize and your Empire will start to infight. That will turn into a witch-hunt to find the traitors, and it will get messy. I do not want to see war. It is also because of this man, a Tal Shiar operative, that Saavak is dead. Your father knows about this."

"He does?" Bochra repeated.

"Yes," Kaylee said. "Pardon the abruptness, but we should get to Vira's ship. I've already prepared a message to send to Picard, and knowing him he'll try to follow us. The only way to stop that is if we make it to the Neutral Zone before he realizes I've vanished. Don't fret. This is a two-way trip. I plan on coming back home to _Enterprise_ and the Federation as soon as possible."

"Revenge and logic," Bochra quoted, "An interesting combination of reasons."

"It might be," Kaylee agreed, "but I have run the simulation through my head. No matter what happens, I see my life being a worthy trade to stop a war, and I intend to come home alive. As long as your Empire doesn't betray me, I'll have no problem. This endeavor is a calculated risk I agree, but it is worth the risk."

Now all of a sudden her emotions were in check and she was speaking like a Vulcan again. "A calculated risk. You Vulcans have an interesting ideology."

"That we do," Kaylee agreed and held out her combadge in one hand, tapping it once to turn it on. "Computer, two to beam to coordinates."

She tossed her combadge away from her after she finished speaking and blue sparkles enveloped the two of them. Her commbadge landed on the floor as Bochra and Kaylee vanished from _Enterprise_. It was left sitting on the floor of _Enterprise_ 's transporter room beside the unconscious form of Geordi La Forge.

* * *

 **I believe i mentioned earlier that the main story was not taking place on _Enterprise_ , and indeed it is not. From her on out, it's taking place among the Romulans. This is abrupt, but a little more detail in that twist will be exposed. Not the next chapter, but the chapter after the next one. **


	14. Emmeline's Assignment

The residence of Tellarite ambassador Frorc bim Paar on Earth was well guarded as most of Emmeline's assignments were, but she simply tugged back the left sleeve of her blue longcoat, recently restocked with sharpened throwing knives, and raised her wrist to the security sensor. Her decoder bracelet, a gift from her old employers from before she had joined the Star Empire, deactivated the laser grid. It took her bracelet only a second to gain control of the security system.

Emmeline slipped inside and the security reactivated behind her seamlessly. Their cameras blacked out at the right intervals, playing a loop view of a blank area to avoid suspicion. Her decoder had been briefed for this assignment and had no trouble with the Starfleet and Tellarite technology and security protocols. The security guard, Starfleet and Tellarite, were laughably easy to dodge.

When she finally reached the quarters where Ambassador Paar was supposed sleeping, she found they were empty. Emmeline chewed a lip, the movement hidden by the mask she wore that hid the lower part of her face and nose. She now wore a black long-sleeve shirt underneath her knee-length jacket instead of a tubetop, and had a pair ushaan-tor strapped to her thighs instead of the disruptors she had been wearing yesterday when the Romulan child named Bochra had come to visit her. A part of her hoped idly that she would see Bochra again and get to meet his friend Pathak that had hacked into the Tal Shiar's mainframe and lived to tell the tale.

With her long clothing, very little of her skin was showing. Her mask that would allow her to breathe through toxic atmospheres and smoke, as well as disguise the sound of her voice, hid the lower half of her face. The upper half of her face was hidden by a plain sheer blue scarf she always wore on assignments, pulled low to cover her eyebrows so only her eyes were visible. Some of her bangs and the ends of her hair were visible from where the scarf did not cover it.

Because she was posing as an Andorian, her hair had been dyed white and the skin on her face, neck, and wrists were dyed blue. This was the only area of her skin that might accidently show. To improve the ploy, she had a pair of Andorian antennae temporarily placed on her skull. They were wired to respond to her emotions as a real Andorian's would.

"Dawn," Emmeline whispered into her bracelet. "Where is Paar?"

"It seems he is not asleep," her bracelet replied.

Her voice was amused, although in a wry, sarcastic manner. It was a pleasant silvery voice with a slight echo to it, reflecting her artificial robotic origin. Emmeline glared at her bracelet, and it's AI that had once again stated the obvious.

"I guessed that Dawn," Emmeline told her AI partner that handled the security systems. "Tell me something I don't know."

Dawn went quiet for a moment, looking through the blueprints of the building she had access to. She overlaid the blueprints with her scanners and the feed from the security to track down the stray Tellarite. Lifesigns from the security personnel were marked by Dawn, Tellarite and non-Tellarite alike. After a second, she narrowed down the multiple Tellarite lifesigns to the one that matched the unique chemistry of Ambassador Paar.

"It seems he moved from his bed to his study during the time it took for us to get inside," Dawn mused. "I think he is working late."

"Understood," Emmeline said.

Dawn went silent as Emmeline began to creep down the hallways so her voice wouldn't give her partner away. While Emmeline took care of the living beings, Dawn took care of the threat in cyberspace. They made quite a team, just as Emmeline's original handlers had designed.

After a few minutes of undetected progress with Emmeline dodging guards and Dawn dealing with the security cameras, Emmeline approached the study. She took a deep, slow breath to steady herself, and then listened. There were three heartbeats near her, one Tellarite and two human. All of them were calm instead of rapid, making it clear they didn't know she had breached the facility.

Emmeline crossed her arms over her chest and simply waited for one of the guards to walk her way. One of them did, amazingly noisy. His heartbeat alone was loud, but there was his breathing and the shifting of his ribs as his lungs expanded and contracted. It was most irritating, and Emmeline was pleased when he finally came close enough for her to reach out and wrap an arm around his neck. He made a muffled gasp of surprise before Emmeline twisted and his neck broke with a surprisingly quiet snap. In fact, it didn't even sound loud enough to be classified a snap.

The security officer, a human, was dropped to the ground loudly. His partner jumped at the sound and stared when he saw the human's legs sticking out from the corner of the hallway. Emmeline smiled as she heard his heartrate increase by ten, twenty beats per minute. His blood pressure had also increased, and his breathing became an octave higher in pitch and slightly more rapid.

She waited for him to draw his phaser and approach, his heartbeat increasing a few more beats. Since she was pretending to be an Andorian, she took one of the Ushaan-tor off her belt and held it casually in one hand. Once he approached near enough, she swept outside into the human's view. He gave a start and then fired his phaser. Emmeline tracked the beam with her eyes and then stepped to one side so it missed her by a few inches.

She slashed the Ushaan-tor across the man's face, and continued the arc of her strike and brought the weapon down with enough force to cut off the human's hand. It dropped to the floor with a quiet thud, still holding the phaser in its fingers. Blood splattered and the human screamed.

Emmeline put him out of his misery quickly by punching him in the left side of his chest with her empty right hand. There was a crunch as the force behind her strike snapped his ribs and allowed her fist to embed itself almost all the way through the human. She yanked her hand free, blood now coating her right arm well past her wrist. The human dropped soundlessly, and Emmeline held up her hand curiously, her fingers wrapped around the human's heart she had yanked from his chest. It beat once, twice, weakly and then it stopped beating.

A pool of blood had formed around the human whose heart she now held, and her boots splashed through it as she walked past the human. The heart was carelessly dropped beside her second victim, his eyes still bulging out of his head in shock and pain, lips parted slightly in a scream that never got to be vocalized. Emmeline adjusted her grip on the Ushaan-Tor she held in her left hand and flicked her right hand to disperse some of the blood off it as she walked to the door of the study.

Her targets were carefully picked. They had no idea that their lives were in danger. No threats had been made beforehand, and no other assassins would have been sent before her to risk tipping her target off that he was in danger. There was no extra security in place, and their guard was lowered. Really, the fact that there were two Starfleet officers dawdling around was quite unexpected. He must have been tipped off a little bit somehow. The Tal Shiar was getting sloppy.

"Guard?" Ambassador Paar asked, having looked up from his work at the sound of a phaser.

There was no response, and Paar looked at the door intently. Emmeline held her bracelet close to the door's panel, and a second later the security was overridden and the door slid open with a hiss. Her assignment was standing behind the desk with a pile of papers in front of him. He stared at her and then Emmeline raised her bloody Ushaan-Tor.

"You!" The Tellarite hissed. "You are Andorian!"

"Sure," Emmeline replied with a laugh, voice distorted thanks to the mask.

Then she raised her Ushaan-Tor and threw it like a Frisbee. It was fast, too fast for the Tellarite to dodge. The blade went through the Tellarite's throat, spine, and embedded itself in the wall behind his desk deeply. Ambassador Paar stopped with his mouth open, and then the head fell to the ground. His body slumped back into the chair limply. Emmeline lowered his arm, priding herself on the clean throw. Tellarite's didn't technically have necks, so a clean decapitation was impressive.

Emmeline paused for a moment, and then nodded when no alarms went off. She raised her decoder bracelet, but Dawn hadn't detected anything. It seems the shot of the phaser had been missed, no doubt because of Dawn.

"Have we been noticed?" Emmeline asked Dawn to confirm what she thought.

"Do you hear any alarms?" Her bracelet asked back in a somewhat snippity tone.

"No Dawn," Emmeline sighed. "I don't."

Emmeline shook her head, wondering why her AI had been given such vivid personality programs.

"I will get us back out," Dawn added. "Give me a moment and then retrace your steps back to the beam out point, if you can manage that without killing anyone else."

Emmeline didn't appreciate Dawn's sarcasm. She gave a somewhat sly look to no one in particular and then looked back at her bracelet. The Tal Shiar were impressed that Dawn's AI programs were so advanced and yet small enough that it fit within a bracelet, and they had wanted to "borrow" Emmeline's bracelet and run a few tests. They had done so earlier for a few minutes, something that Emmeline knew had led to them improving the decoders Tal Shiar wore on their chests. A more in-depth "dissection" of Dawn was high on the Tal Shiar's priority list.

"You know," Emmeline said slyly. "I could always turn you over to the Tal Shiar after this mission and let them run a diagnostic on you."

"No need for that," Dawn interrupted hastily. "I am picking up two approaching lifesigns, human."

"More Starfleet," Emmeline sighed. "I suppose I could go around them, or through them."

"Hold on," Dawn whispered and then paused. "The lifesigns are only part human. Emmi…"

"Go dark," Emmeline ordered her AI companion sharply, drawing her second Ushaan-Tor.

Dawn fell silent instantly, aware who the newcomers were. Emmeline would need to concentrate for what was coming next. Rather than flee, Emmeline stood her current ground. The study was large with open room, a better place to fight then in a hallway. Emmeline's hearing was sharp enough to hear the newcomers enter the room, but no others would have been.

"Welcome," Emmeline said as she calmly turned to face her new opponents, a female and male. "I suppose my old handlers still think they can back. The Federation is stubborn and sore about me walking away from them. Or should I say Section 31 is."

"You will return to Vulcan with us and receive conditioning," the male ordered Emmeline.

"You will comply," the female added.

"Says you," Emmeline smiled from behind her mask. "You should know that you can't stop me. You're just a pair of first-generation augments, standard stock created during the Eugenic Wars. I am a second-generation augment, the upgraded version. _I_ am the most powerful augment ever created, a modern day version of you two with all the scientific enhancements of _this_ time. I even have strains of alien DNA to make me a more perfect being."

The first-generation augments Section 31 had sent after Emmeline to bring her back to them fell into fighting stance, and Emmeline shrugged that she had tried. After the Eugenic Wars, all surviving augment embryos were placed in cryogenic suspension on Cold Station 12. 51 embryos were later stolen from storage and the records were altered, leaving everyone to believe those 51 had never existed. The missing 51 had been taken by Section 31, although it was not until centuries later that they "raised" a few augments under their control to be used for various purposes.

The two before Emmeline and over a dozen others not present were the result of this, but Emmeline was the result of augmenting an augment embryo. Project Phoenix, the name given to the reborn augments and their handlers, had been led by a human named Kaylen Laux. Her project had been approved by someone named Sloan, one of Section 31's highest-ranking officers. Although Laux herself rarely interacted with her augments, she had a structured system to handle them. Before long, quite a few were strategically deployed into various Section 31 assignments throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

A Vulcan named Karek had been the leader of the augments' handlers, Karek being Emmeline's personal handler. The Denobulan called Bek had led the genetics division in charge of everything to do with DNA. Dominic Foxwell, another human, had led a group of scientists and engineers to create AI companions for the augments to aid them, Dawn being the only one ever completed. Saavak, a female Vulcan that Emmeline especially despised, had been part of Foxwell's team. Nuran Devur, an unjoined Trill, was the leader of the combatant teachers for the augments, and his twin sister Visri had taught the augments espionage and infiltration. It had been a very well organized and neat operation.

"You two are the closest thing to a species that I have," Emmeline warned the two augments. "Colby, Liz. I have no wish to kill my kin. Who in Project Phoenix sent you to deal with me?"

"It was Saavak's idea," Liz, the female augment, told Emmeline readily. "Laux agreed that it might work."

"Was it her idea to send Jennell to kill me last month as well?" Emmeline asked.

She was referring to a situation very similar to this one, but with only one augment. A female first-generation named Jennell who had been one of Emmeline's friends had been sent to bring her back to Laux's base, dead or alive. First-generations were bound by conditioning to obey orders given to them, and Jennell had been forced to try to carry out her orders when Emmeline had refused to surrender. As a second-generation, Emmeline had been able to disobey her conditioning, but had been forced to kill Jennell.

"Yes," Colby answered, a needless thing to do.

Emmeline shook her head, Andorian antennas mimicking her disgust with their movement. "Leave it to Saavak to think of something like that. You can't disobey your conditioning, can you?"

"If we could we would," Liz said softly. "You're the only one strong enough. Defend yourself Commander Emmeline, leader of us. We have no wish to return you to Phoenix base, but we have no choice but to try. Kill us if you must. We understand Commander."

Emmeline shook her head slowly, but Colby drew a cutlass from the scabbard, a sword not widely seen on Earth since the 1800's. Liz readied the bat'leth she wore on her back and Emmeline sighed. She unclipped the button of her longcoat near her neck so it would be easier to draw her throwing knives, and then raised her remaining Ushaan-Tor.

It took three hits with a phaser to stun a first-generation augment, and Emmeline was a second-generation. All three, as augments, were plenty agile enough to dodge phasers or disruptors. That made long-range energy weapons useless, and left only melee.

"Defend yourself," Colby warned.

Then Emmeline's augmented kin struck.

In the aftermath, Emmeline collected the throwing blades she had used and eliminated her blood from their weapons and the surroundings. Then she left the study. Dawn remained quiet, silently overriding the security system where she was needed. Emmeline allowed her path to cross with one of the humans on the premise, and killed him without any adu. She simply hit him in the chest with a sidekick, and there was enough force behind her kick to rupture his internal organs and crack his spinal cord and other bones when he slammed into a wall.

Once Emmeline reached the beam-out point, Dawn activated the transporter on Emmeline's ship, _Starhunter_ , and Emmeline left. Section 31 operatives retrieved the bodies of Liz and Colby before officials came. Laux was left infuriated when she learned two more of her augments were dead and she still didn't have Emmeline.

When Emmeline had defected, her allies in House R'Mor of the Romulan Star Empire had helped her infiltrate Phoenix Base. Emmeline had killed the lead scientist on the second-gen augment project, and destroyed his lab along with all of his research. With Emmeline gone and the lab destroyed, there was no way to create another second-gen to combat Emmeline. Laux simply had no sample of second-generation DNA to work with, and until she could capture Emmeline or some of her DNA, there was no way to breed a new second-gen.

Laux did not look relish giving her report to Sloan.

* * *

 **This chapter, like chapter 10, takes place in the past. It is a continuation of Chapter 10 and happens just after that one does. Emmeline is completing her assignment that was given to her by Delron in chapter 10.**

 **I know some people don't like Section 31 since the it twists the value system Gene Roddenberry created, but others say that it's only natural the Federation would have an** **organization like this. If you're one of the people who hates the concept of Section 31 please don't take it out on me for using it.**


	15. Guest of the Empire

Kaylee Dare stepped off the transporter pad of the Romulan D'deridex _IRW Decius_ and into more trouble than she knew existed. She had a hand on Bochra's shoulder, and as they stepped onto the floor, the lights dimmed as _Decius_ recloaked. It would only be moments until the last of _Terix_ 's survivors were beamed over, and Commander R'Mor and Commander Hvaid returned to Romulan space.

Kaylee didn't feel nearly as nervous as she should. Perhaps she was finally regaining control of her emotions. There were two Romulans in the transporter room. One of them was a security officer, and he took Bochra to help guide him to the medical ward so a Romulan could look over his injured eyes.

The second Romulan standing at the transporter console was female, a little younger than Tomalak. She had the normal Romulan features although there was something elfin about her face and her delicately slanting black brows. There was a ring of bright gold around her pupils, a nice contrast to the dark brown irises of her eyes. Her smile was gentle in greeting and yet intrigued and sly, perfect for a Romulan.

"So you are Kaylee Dare," the female Romulan greeted in a voice that mirrored her smile. "Welcome aboard my ship."

"Wait, wait," Bochra told the Romulan who was trying to aid him. "Kaylee, can you explain what just happened? I can't exactly see the situation right now. I know Vira's here."

"Yes I'm here," Commander Vira R'Mor agreed. "Miss. Dare will be accompanying my crew back to Romulus to help us sort out a small problem. Afterwards, she'll be returned to the Federation."

"And that small problem…" Bochra said cautiously. "Is the Tal Shiar?"

"Yeah," Kaylee agreed. "You've got at least one high-leveled traitor in it ordering the destruction of Romulan ships. When I preformed that… um, mindmeld with Aerv I caught a glimpse of him. I don't have a name or face, but if I see him I can identify him. In order to identify him, I need to see him."

"Which is why she's coming home with us," Commander R'Mor finished. "By the way Miss. Dare, you can just call me Vira."

Kaylee nodded, a little off guard.

"I think I have that," Bochra promised. "But why are you willing to help the Empire? You're a Vulcan."

Vira answered before Kaylee, leaning forward and resting her arms on the transporter console. " _Terix_ survivors will spread the word that Aerv was working on Tal Shiar. Two ships have been destroyed before _Terix_ , and the Tal Shiar was likely behind their fates as well. How do you think the citizens of the Empire will react when they learn the Tal Shiar has betrayed them, and is destroying loyal starships? It will be chaos. I could see the Klingons taking advantage of the infighting that will inevitably break out."

"And she's going to stop that by unveiling the traitor," Bochra said cautiously. "I didn't exactly understand why."

"The current relations and situation between superpowers isn't the best," Kaylee admitted without hesitation. "But it is better than open war. Knowing the Klingons, they wouldn't know where to stop once they started a war. I am doing this to keep the Federation safe. As I said, they also killed my surrogate, Savaak. I owe this traitor something."

Vira stood straight when Kaylee mentioned Saavak, but then relaxed a second later before Kaylee noticed it. Tomalak had to be right when he had said Kaylee was Emmeline's daughter. Not only did she look like Emmeline, Saavak had been set up as her surrogate. Section 31 was quite bold to place one of Phoenix Project's personal in a position to monitor Kaylee, but that left two questions: Was Kaylee a Section 31 operative? And, was Kaylee _actually_ Emmeline's daughter?

"Logic and revenge," Vira mused to hide her sudden silence. "It is what I would expect for a v'tosh ka'tur."

Kaylee glanced over at Vira, unable to completely hide her displeasure at being called that. V'tosh ka'tur was a term used by adults and elders to describe a Vulcan that disagreed with ancestral teachings. It literally meant "Vulcans without logic." Despite what the stigma said, Kaylee did not abandon logic, but simply believed that one could be logical without suppressing their emotions.

"Now," Vira added. "Are you sure _Enterprise_ didn't detect that you beamed over with Bochra?"

"I sabotaged the scanners," Kaylee exhaled, still a little irritated by being called a v'tosh ka'tur. "They would have read only one lifeform beaming over. I also left a message for Captain Picard, but it will be some time before he finds it. We have time to cross the Neutral Zone."

"Good," Vira nodded and then looked down at the console.

With a tap on his shoulder, Bochra was reminded of his appointment with the doctor, and left without glancing backwards at Kaylee. Given the shape of his eyes, it wouldn't have done any good. Vira tapped on the console.

"Are we done?" She asked someone on the bridge.

"We're clear to head home," the Romulan answered.

"Then set course for Romulus," Vira said strongly in a tone that fit her rank as Commander, "warp 4."

She turned off the communicator and stepped away from the console. There was a gentle hum and shift under their feet as _Decius_ jumped to warp. Vira motioned for Kaylee to follow her. Kaylee did so as they left the transporter room and walked down the ship's hallway. The hallways were colored beige and grey with black glass consoles lining the walls lit up with blue-green icons. It was dimmer in lightning then a Federation ship, and lacked the clean, almost sanitized brightness of _Enterprise_ 's halls.

"I was surprised to see one of your officers present," Kaylee spoke first to break the silence. "I thought my presence here was to be a secret."

"It is," Vira agreed.

Kaylee gave her a blank look, and Vira smiled.

"An average crew compliment of a D'deridex is 622 Romulans," Vira explained. "To keep you hidden from 621 crewmembers would be quite impossible. It is better for them to catch glimpses of you then to keep you hidden and have them make up wild rumors. As far as they know you are simply returning home."

Kaylee didn't instantly understand Vira's words, but they sank in after a few seconds and she curled her upper lip away from her teeth. "I am not a spy you Romulans planted aboard _Enterprise_ that has simply been recalled home."

"I know," Vira promised, "but the crew does not. Espionage is very much the Romulan way. What they have heard will satisfy their curiosity for you, and they will not look too deeply into the matter. It might be better for you to stay in your quarters for now though as they do not know that you are a loyal Federation citizen. When we get to Romulus, you'll be transported to House R'Mor's hall. My house will take care of you until you return home."

"I'm amazed they've agreed to this," Kaylee said wryly.

"House R'Mor is somewhat… different compared to others," Vira hesitantly tried to explain. "They'll understand the situation. My father is the head of R'Mor and I know him. He'll have no quarrel with you."

Kaylee thought over her current history as they walked, their footsteps quiet on the thin carpet, much less muffled then _Enterprise_ 's thick and fluffy white carpet. "Isn't the current Praetor, Maiek, of House R'Mor?"

"My father," Vira nodded with a smile by way of conformation. "He will be more interested in finding the traitor and stabilizing the situation than anything. Delron, my older brother, will not turn you away under these circumstances either."

Delron would also take one look at Kaylee, see her as Emmeline, and pass out. Although Emmeline had been aligned with the Romulan Star Empire, she had been House R'Mor's ally. Her handler had been Delron R'Mor, her small manor on Romulus had been paid for by House R'Mor, and her assignments had been given by House R'Mor. Certainly, all of her assignments benefitted the Empire, but most of them benefited R'Mor in particular.

Perhaps it was because of Emmeline that Maiek had risen to become Praetor, the twelfth R'Mor to hold that title. S'task R'Mor, perhaps the most famous of House R'Mor, was the Vulcan that had originally led 80,000 of his kin away from Vulcan to Romulus two thousand years ago during the Great Sundering. Those who followed him were called Vulcans who "marched beneath the raptor's wings." His nephew Pontilus R'Mor was the first Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire. It was only natural Emmeline would be under R'Mor control first and Star Empire control second.

Kaylee didn't say anything, too busy trying to make a map in her head of the path they were taking. Likely due to the extreme size of the D'deridex, there were numerous long corridors and Kaylee soon found herself lost. Perhaps the D'deridex's designer had created the ship like this in order to thwart intruders. She was amazed that the Romulan crew didn't get lost on their day to day duties.

"Well it appears you can speak Rihan fluently enough," Vira added as they walked inside a turbolift. "That will help things. Deck B!"

The tubolift chimed, a more musical note compared to _Enterprise_ , and began moving up. It didn't take very long to reach Deck B, so Kaylee assumed that it was only a few floors above the transporter rooms. Its doors opened and the two of them walked out of it down the hallway. There were a series of doors on either side, and Vira led her to one and punched in a code on the door's panel so it slid open.

"These are the guest quarters," Vira explained. "D'deridex's are large enough to have both science labs and military systems, making it a battle cruiser and science vessel. We have a compliment of scientists and warriors, but no civilians. Right now, you and Bochra are our only guests."

The room Kaylee walked into was not luxurious or opulent. It had a bed to one side, closet, table with a few chairs, and an adjoining bathroom. A window showed the stars flying by at warp outside the ship, and there was a food replicator in the wall. It's color scheme was the same as the rest of the ship and although it had a comfortable feel that was not overly indulgent.

"It will only take a few days to reach Romulus on our current heading," Vira announced. "As I said, it might simplify things if you stayed in your room until we reach R'Mor's hall."

"What about the other _Terix_ survivors?" Kaylee asked, speaking out of curiosity more than anything.

"Hvaid and the others will catch up to Romulus a few days after us," Vira shrugged. "I have to ask, but are you sure _Enterprise_ won't panic when they realized you're here?"

"I left a clear message for Captain Picard," Kaylee explained. "He'll receive it in a few hours, long enough for us to cross into the Neutral Zone. He won't do anything stupid."

"I hope not," Vira said thoughtfully.

* * *

 _Enterprise_ was now en route to Starbase 384 for debriefing on their recent situation. Starfleet Command seemed imminently interested in the fact that the Tal Shiar were destroying their own ships, and they wished to speak to Kaylee Dare. She had performed a mind meld with a Tal Shiar operative and an engineer, and they wanted to see if she had any gleaned any useful information from their minds. Three hours had passed since the _Terix_ survivors had been returned to their people.

"Sir," Wesley Crusher, back at his post on the bridge spoke up curiously. "There's a message from Kaylee. It looks recorded and it's marked eyes only for you."

Picard tilted his head in surprise and glanced at Riker. Riker shrugged, and Picard slowly stood. Since Kaylee was so crucial for the debrief, he supposed he could humor her eyes-only request.

"I'll take it in my ready room," Picard said and walked over to his ready room.

The doors opened and closed, and his lionfish Livingston swam up to the tank by means of hello. Picard walked up to the replicator.

"Earl Grey, hot," Picard ordered his replicator.

His tea materialized after a second in a storm of blue sparkles, and he picked up the cup and took a sip as he walked over and sat behind of his desk. Kaylee's recorded message was waiting on his computer, and he tapped it to open it. It was a message, but there was only audio, no visual. On cue, Kaylee Dare's voice began to play.

"Captain Picard," the message began in Kaylee's calmly spoken voice. "This is Kaylee. I know that Starfleet will want to debrief me because of my mindmelds with the Romulans, but I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint them. You might not be aware of it yet, but I am no longer on _Enterprise_. I am now on the IRW _Decius_ , Commander Vira R'Mor's ship. In a few days I will be on Romulus."

Picard coughed up his tea as he tried and failed to take a sip, and stared intently at the screen of his computer.

"What?" Picard whispered. After a moment to let the news to sink in, Picard ordered the computer. "Computer, locate crewmember Kaylee Dare."

The computer chimed acknowledgment to his request but replied unfavorable, saying that, "Kaylee Dare is not on _Enterprise_."

Picard stared at his computer screen as the pause Kaylee had left, perhaps to give Picard a chance to ask the computer her location, ended. She resumed speaking.

"As I told Commander R'Mor and Commander Tomalak, this will be a two-way journey," Kaylee assured Picard. "I will return to Federation. This is not a defection, and I am doing this of my own free will. Do not follow me. If you follow all you will do is compromise my mission. Praetor Maiek is one of the only ones aware I will be on Romulus, and I do not want anyone else to know."

"I repeat," Kaylee said sharply, "I am returning to the Federation. When word spreads the Tal Shiar has betrayed the Star Empire there will be unrest. Perhaps unrest enough to convince the Klingons that now would be a good time to invade. I am going to Romulus to unveil the identity of the mastermind behind the treason, information I gleaned from the mind of the traitor that destroyed the _Terix_."

Kaylee laughed lightly. "By the time you receive this time-delayed message, I will be in the Neutral Zone. R'Mor's ship will be rendezvousing with a squadron of other D'deridex warbirds. _Enterprise_ won't survive a confrontation with them, so please don't be stupid enough to try. I have a plan, and I want to stop a war from starting. Please let me, and don't endanger _Enterprise_ for nothing. There's no way to stop me, so trust me. I should be back home to _Enterprise_ in a week, two tops."

"Until that time," Kaylee finished, "keep _Enterprise_ safe and please don't throw my stuff out of my room. I'll be back before you know it."

The message ended, and Picard was left sitting in his chair staring at his computer screen. His tea was still in his hand, half-raised to his lips, completely forgotten.

* * *

 **I don't think the Federation is going to like her going to the Star Empire. In fact, they might turn out to be less tolerant about her visit then the Romulans. Most of this story takes place within the Star Empire, so there won't be much to do with _Enterprise_. This is a Romulan story, and although Kaylee is a major character, Romulans like Bochra and Tomalak are also major characters. Humans are not.**


	16. Chitchat

The first thing Kaylee did aboard the _IRW Decius_ was sleep, and the bed in the guest quarters was softer then it looked. At least it felt soft to Kaylee, who was still worn out from her second mindmeld. It was a dreamless sleep and Kaylee felt refreshed when she awoke.

She stretched in the bed and looked out the window at the stars that shot by at warp speed. Kaylee couldn't help but wonder how much closer she was to Romulus now. This entire mission to go to Romulus seemed absurd in hindsight, but she couldn't abort the mission. Truthfully, Kaylee wasn't sure she would even if she could.

She pulled the fine silvery sheet as soft as cotton and smooth as silk back over the pillow after she got out of the bed. Kaylee glanced at the replicator, but didn't approach it. She wasn't familiar with Romulan food, so despite being hungry she had no idea what to order. Instead, she sat on the edge of her bed with her shoes to put them on.

As she picked up the left shoe, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and saw for the first time that there was a set of clothing on the table. She wasn't sure if it had been there when Kaylee entered, which meant someone might have come in while she was sleeping.

The idea unsettled her and she abandoned her shoes to take a closer look at the gift, a set of black and green clothing. Kaylee stared at the Romulan civilian clothing for several long seconds before starting to strip so she could put it on. Her visit here would be inconspicuous enough already without her continuing to wear Federation clothing, and she saw no logic in making a difficult mission even harder by standing out.

The clothing was simplistic in style, and she was able to figure out how to put it on. There was a black long-sleeve shirt with a scoop neckline and an olive green jacket embroidered with gold thread. The jacket had a double-breasted collar made of heavier grey fabric. She could compare it to a tight-fitting waistcoat with sleeves except that it wrapped around her body, left side over the right similar to a kimono. There was a silver button on the right side and a tie hidden over her left hip to hold it in place.

Her pants were black cloth, a lightweight breathable material somewhat similar to denim. The shoes were a pair of black low-heeled black boots similar to human go-go boots, and they were worn over her pants. The tops of the boots were turned down and made of the same fabric as the jacket collar, and there were two gold straps over each instep. In addition, there was a wide brown belt with a gold triangle buckle.

Everything fit her perfectly, leaving her to wonder when they had scanned her to get her sizes. Kaylee was smoothing down the front of the jacket as the door chimed, alerting her that someone wished to enter.

As she had no right to turn it down she called out, "Enter!"

The door slid open and Vira walked in, a Romulan PADD in her hand. She paused after she entered and looked Kaylee over as the door closed behind her. Then she smiled. Kaylee looked great in the Romulan clothing, better then Emmeline had.

"You look good in that," Vira told her truthfully.

"How did you get my measurements?" Kaylee asked as she tried to see what she looked like, a mirror being one of the things the room lacked.

"The data was stored with your DNA pattern when you transported to my ship," Vira explained.

"Figures," Kaylee mused.

She went quiet as she fidgeted, and Vira could tell that she was fighting with something. There was something Kaylee wanted to ask very badly, and Vira stayed quiet to give her a chance. Kaylee opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed and hung her head.

"Vira," she asked softly without raising her head. "Have you ever heard of someone named Emmeline?"

Vira's mouth went dry, and her eyebrows shot up. Kaylee saw her reaction and tightened her lips into a hard line.

"You have," she accused. "Tell me what you knew about her."

"What makes you think I know about Emmeline?" Vira parried verbally.

"You're surprised I know her name," Kaylee said flatly. "I know you Romulans knew her because Tomalak mistook me for her. He called her Emmi – a nickname."

"Emmeline was your mother, wasn't she?" Vira asked, dropping any pretense of not knowing.

"Yes," Kaylee nodded.

"She was my friend," Vira admitted, "a close friend to myself and my House."

"She was loyal to the Star Empire," Kaylee said more then asked, drawing her eyebrows together and looking at her boots.

"Not initially," Vira nodded slowly, "but yes. She was."

"Was," Kaylee repeated. "That's past tense. Is she dead?"

"She disappeared four years ago during an… assignment," Vira had to be careful how much she told Kaylee as Kaylee was still Federation. "Given the circumstances, she is believed dead although no body was ever found. What do you know of her?"

"Her name," Kaylee shrugged. "Saavak told me that. Apparently, she was a friend of Emmeline's, and that's why Saavak adopted me. She said Emmeline was a science officer who did field time and that she met many species in that time, including Romulans."

Vira couldn't suppress a snicker at Emmeline being called a _science_ officer. Kaylee gave her a hard look, and Vira wasn't able to meet it.

"Emmeline defected from the Federation," Vira explained. "She was an unofficial member of House R'Mor. I believe you are the daughter of the woman I knew. You look just like her, except with your father's features."

Kaylee let that sink in. Here were the answers she had been looking for all spelled out for her. It was clear from Vira's earlier hesitation that the information was classified, but Kaylee could still get a lot of answers. Then something Vira had said made the hair on the back of Kaylee's neck stand up.

"What do you mean I look like my father?" Kaylee asked her with a sharp gaze towards her. "My father was Vulcan."

Vira didn't respond and Kaylee shook her head as she understood. Her mother was an ally of the Romulans so it was illogical that her father would be Vulcan. She was getting answers to questions she didn't even know she had. Kaylee didn't ask anything more about her father, and Vira didn't say anything on that subject.

"I came to tell you that judging from our current heading we should reach Romulus the day before Eitreih'hveinn," Vira changed the subject.

"Eitre- what?" Kaylee repeated.

"Eitreih'hveinn," Vira corrected her lightly, amused by Kaylee's problem. "It means Farmer's Festival. It's one of nine major religious festivals we have each year. This is our way to honor domestic produce, and on that day, only priest-sanctioned food may be eaten."

"What about food replicators?" Kaylee asked with a nod towards the machine.

"Doesn't count since we're going to be on Romulus," Vira promised. "I'm afraid things will be very interesting during your stay."

"Of course," Kaylee said, not surprised that things weren't going to be normal.

Her stomach chose that moment to grumble, and Kaylee looked away sharply, a slight green color rising to her cheeks as she blushed. Vira passed Kaylee the PADD with the information on the holiday and walked over to the replicator. She tapped a button and entered an order.

"Hlai meatroll and glakh," Vira ordered.

With green swirls, the replicator materialized a plate with what looked like a giant puffy dumpling about the size of a bagel and a mug with steam rising from it. Vira picked up the food and returned to Kaylee, setting it on the table with a nod at her to sit. Kaylee approached it and sat warily. The food smelled good, and the drink looked similar to hot apple cider.

"Go ahead and eat," Vira told her. "This is a common breakfast on Romulus. The meatroll is filling and should last you until lunch. There are all sorts of flavors but hlai is the first that comes to mind."

"Is it like chicken?" Kaylee asked.

"Like what?" Vira replied.

Kaylee shook her head, putting the realizations about her parents firmly behind her. Without even realizing it, she had started speaking Rihan instead of English. Vira was good, Kaylee admitted as she picked up the meatroll and cautiously took a bite. It was similar to a buttermilk biscuit mixed with cornbread and stuffed with chicken. She found it delicious.

"Hmm," Vira said as she looked over Kaylee's appearance. "You are dressed to blend in, but we could always do something about your hair."

Kaylee stopped before taking another bite of the meatroll. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Vira sighed. "If your hair was a little darker and a little shorter you'd be able to blend in much easier."

Kaylee protectively reached up a hand and touched her hair, looking distressed at the prospect of cutting and dying it.

"Or not," Vira relented.

Emmeline had had the same reaction when Vira had offered to style it so she would blend into the Romulan population. Although, Vira corrected herself, Emmeline had been a bit more vocal then Kaylee in her opinion.

The insignia of the Romulan Star Empire Vira wore on her chest suddenly chimed, and Vira tapped it once. "Yes, what is it?"

"Hvaid just sent an interesting report," one of Vira's crew answered. "According to him, the traitor Aerv took a felodesine tablet."

"What?" Vira snapped, eyes brightening and then darkening. "Is he dead?"

"Yes unfortunately," Vira's crewmember told her.

Felodesine… Kaylee wasn't sure, but she thought that was the Romulan equivalent of cyanide. With the traitor dead, Kaylee was now the only person who could uncover the identity of the mastermind behind this treason. Vira's eyes flickered towards Kaylee briefly, thinking the same thing.

"Understood," Vira said and turned off the combadge with a serious look.

Kaylee looked down at her food and then sighed as she picked up the mug with the glakh – a word she thought sounded Klingon instead of Romulan. She swished the amber drink around idly and then sipped. It tasted like hot apple cider, and there was a hint of something resembling cinnamon and peppermint as well.

"How exactly will cutting my hair help me blend in?" Kaylee asked as she considered the situation. "I still don't look like a Romulan and I'd rather not go through plastic surgery."

"Everyone should just assume you're half-Garidian," Vira said with a shrug. "It's perfectly common for Garidian/Romulan hybrids to have only some traits of each parent species. Garidians have pale skin like yours and lack our facial ridges."

"There are Romulan hybrids?" Kaylee gave her a bewildered look as she set the drink down and picked up her meatroll again. "I thought you were too xenophobic for that."

"We're not xenophobic," Vira corrected. "Most of us just don't see a need to mingle with inferior species."

"Right," Kaylee said in mock seriousness as she took another bite, mirroring her mother more then she knew.

Vira gave her a look that was more bemused then irritated, and explained. "Since you were raised on Vulcan, I assume you know the story of the Great Sundering?"

Kaylee nodded as she swallowed a bite of the meatroll and washed it down with a sip of glakh. "Two thousand years ago, during Surek's rise, a group of Vulcans who marched beneath the raptor's wing broke away from Vulcan. Those that left became known as the Romulans."

"That's the general history," Vira agreed, "but things didn't go quite that smoothly. Along the way, a few groups of ships broke off from the fleet. Most of them died, but one group of former Vulcans survived. They now call themselves Garidians. Like us, they're a branch-off of the Vulcan species and our cousins."

Kaylee didn't answer verbally, but thoughtfully chewed her meatroll. She was paying attention. Since this information wasn't classified and since Kaylee was going to be on Romulus, Vira decided she might as well give her a little more information.

"The Garidian Republic, their government, is a satellite of the Romulan Star Empire," Vira continued her explanation. "Contact between our species has become more common, and halflings along with it. Those with Garidian blood aren't permitted to serve in the military, and in order to be considered a full citizen you must serve five years in the military. Because they don't qualify as citizens, they're still an uncommon sight, but no longer rare, especially Halflings. You should be able to pass as one although it would be easier if you dyed your hair black."

Kaylee pretended that she hadn't heard Vira's last comment as she thought over the rest of the information. "It is strange, illogical, that you look at your cousins with such prejudice. They are Halflings that share Romulan blood directly."

"You're far from the only one which thinks that," Vira assured her. "My father agrees with you. He thinks that half and maybe even pureblood Garidians should be eligible to go through the academy and serve alongside pureblood Romulans. Since they're our cousins, some agree they have the right. The traditionalists are opposed to this, but father's support is growing. It looks like he'll have the votes he needs to start changing things within a year."

"Could the Tal Shiar's destruction of ships have something to do with this vote to allow Garidians into your navy?" Kaylee asked, seeing an instant connection. "Perhaps it's a traditionalist setting up these attacks to discredit the Praetor and have him lose support so he'll lose the vote."

"That thought has crossed my mind as well," Vira assured Kaylee. "I'm glad to see someone agrees with me. Do you know why only certain Commanders were attacked? You did see into Aerv's head."

"It was over Emmeline," Kaylee said casually.

It took a moment to sink in and then Vira said, "huh?"

"Emmeline," Kaylee repeated. "All of the commanders of the destroyed ships were friends of Emmeline's. Tomalak, Delron, Bochra, Patahk, Dontana, Rehu… and Vira were the listed names. Aerv's superior said that they were friends of Emmeline's and that he needed to stop some sort of contamination."

Vira gave a start when her name was mentioned, listening intently. "I know everyone you just listed, and they all were friends of Emmeline. What did you mean by contamination?"

"I don't know," Kaylee admitted. "I assume that you would."

Vira hummed and crossed her arms over her chest with a deeply thoughtful expression. "Well, it might be cultural contaminations as Emmeline was human. Emmeline had no genetic illnesses or sickness, so I don't think contamination was meant by sickness."

Kaylee stared at Vira and slowly lowered the last half of the meatroll to the plate. "You aren't worried? Your name was on that list. Patahk, Dontana, and Rehu were dead and someone just tried to kill Tomalak and Bochra."

Vira had been staring at the ceiling as she thought, but glanced down now. "Hmm? Well, I am the daughter of the current Praetor and a member of one of the most unorthodox houses. If I took time to worry about every single threat made against my father, my house, or me then I would never have time to sleep. I doubt I would have time to breathe."

She chuckled and shook her head. Kaylee's bizarre look did not lessen.

"These people are serious," Kaylee warned her.

"I know," Vira agreed. "They wouldn't be the first. I thank you for the information. My father will find this "contamination" interesting. You know, now that I think about it, most of the Tal Shiar is against my father's policy with the Garidians. I and most of Emmeline's friends believe that the Praetor is doing the right thing letting non-Romulans in the army since the Garidians are still our cousins."

Vira chuckled unexpectedly. "Perhaps the Tal Shiar is right and there was some… contamination. Now finish your breakfast. We'll be reaching Romulus in two days. As Commander, I have certain _things_ I must deal with."

The disdain she put on the word "things" amused Kaylee, and she gave a small smile. "Vira?"

"Yes?" Vira asked.

"Is Bochra alright?" Kaylee asked Vira in concern.

Vira returned the smile. "He'll make a full recovery, and should have his sight back by the time we reach home. I don't think the wound will scar."

There was something strange about calling Romulus "home" to Kaylee. Her home was _Enterprise_ or Vulcan. Romulus was Vira's home, and Kaylee personally couldn't wait to return to her home. The fact that Bochra would be all right would make her brief stay on Romulus more enjoyable.

Kaylee nodded that she had no more questions, and Vira tipped her head to her before leaving. Once Vira left, Kaylee looked at her plate thoughtfully. Did the Garidians have something to do with the murders, or was it all about her mother? Her mother… someone Kaylee was sure she had more questions about than before. Worse, now she also had questions about something that she had never given much thought about – her father.

She looked at the PADD Vira had left with her, and smiled mischievously. PADD's were directly linked to the ship's computer if you knew how to override the safeguards. Perhaps she could get some answers after all.

* * *

Vira leaned against the wall of her D'deridex with a serious thought, unaware of what Kaylee was planning. They were trying to eliminate those connected to Emmeline, something Vira didn't understand, and kill members of houses that supported the Garidians, something Vira understood. This confirmed what her father had said about the intelligence organization having become power-hungry. Praetor Maiek R'mor would not be happy to hear Kaylee's information, but he would find it most interesting.

* * *

 **Okay, this is mostly chitchat, but it answers a lot of questions. The fact that Kaylee was half-Romulan instead of half-Vulcan was an open secret that you shouldn't be surprised about. If you want to learn about the Garidians, go to Memory Beta. I am trying to stick to the information there as much as possible.**

 **R'Mor is a very strange house considering they are Romulans. You agree?**


	17. Dreams

_Patahk sat inside the scout ship_ Pi _, in the middle of a last systems check before he left_ Terix _. The door to the small science vessel opened, and someone stepped inside. He glanced over his shoulder and saw his friend Bochra in the doorway, half in and half out of the shuttle. Bochra held out the case with the last of the equipment Patahk needed to him._

 _"Just put it down anywhere," Patahk told Bochra as he looked back at the controls._

 _He heard Bochra enter_ Pi _and set the case down, and then felt Bochra set an arm on the back of his chair and lean forward. Patahk stopped his scan of the controls and looked out of the corner of his eye at Bochra. Bochra was leaning forward, gazing at the controls._

 _"Bochra," Patahk said in a tone that was surprisingly emotionless for a Romulan._

 _"Hmm?" Bochra asked._

 _Patahk sighed and leaned back. "What are you doing?"_

 _"Making sure you have the controls set up right," Bochra said. "I know you're a Class 3 pilot and all that, but I would rather get back to_ Terix _in one piece. We're going to be scouting the Neutral Zone after all, and the Federation won't take kindly to us if they find us."_

 _Patahk swiveled his chair around, forcing Bochra to step back and stand without the support of his chair._

 _He fixed his friend with a fierce look. "Us?"_

 _"Of course," Bochra smiled. "You think I'm going to let you do something as dangerous as this alone?"_

 _"Yes," Patahk said coldly._

 _Bochra gave him an exasperated look and Patahk smiled._

 _"If I'm going to be part of an away team to explore a new planet then I will want you with me," Patahk promised Bochra, "but_ I _am not going to a planet. I am staying on a spaceship, so I don't believe a warrior like you will be very useful."_

 _"I'm still not letting you do this alone," Bochra contradicted. "You're going into the Neutral Zone to see if those weird power readings_ Terix _detected are a second Iconian Gateway. You think the Federation isn't above destroying one scout ship to keep us from getting our hands on that sort of technology?"_

 _Patahk actually hissed when Bochra said that and stalked past him to yank_ Pi _'s door close. Once the door was closed and they stood a better chance of speaking in peace, he whirled around to face Bochra._

 _"Just_ how _did you find out about the gateway?" Patahk demanded, hands fisted by his sides._

 _Bochra smiled. "First of all, Commander Tomalak is my father. Give me some credit."_

 _Patahk would give him that._

 _"Second," Bochra said, "my mentor taught me how to do more than simply break someone's nose."_

 _Patahk exhaled. Of course, Emmeline had taught Bochra quite well. Not only had she made him one of the more skilled warriors, she, like with Patahk, had taught him the finer skill of espionage._

 _"_ Pi _is a one-man craft on a one-man mission," Patahk warned Bochra. "Did you speak to Commander Tomalak about accompanying me?"_

 _Judging from how Bochra looked away, Patahk knew that his father had turned down Bochra's request to accompany Patahk._

 _"If he said no then why are you here bothering me?" Patahk asked. "A subordinate is supposed to follow his superior's orders instead of trying to find a way to sidestep them."_

 _"You Rehu's are such sticklers for the rules," Bochra sighed._

 _"Are you sure you're not secretly a R'Mor?" Patahk retorted, one of his eyebrows twitching._

 _Bochra smiled again. "I'm a Tomalak."_

 _Patahk huffed, wondering. "We don't even know if there_ is _a second gateway. All we know is that the energy readings we detected from Iconia are_ similar _to the ones_ Haakona _found a year ago. Commander Tomalak doesn't think it's likely, but we have to check it out. You might as well stay on the ship since there won't be anything there."_

 _"Says you," Bochra agreed and sat down near the back since there was only the one chair. "Or something might happen and I'll need to save you_ again _."_

 _"Oh come on," Patahk snipped and shook his head. "I'm not that bad."_

 _"You used to be," Bochra reminded him and looked up at the roof of the ship with a knowing smile, arms crossed over his chest._

 _Green colored Patahk's cheeks in embarrassment at the memories of some of the misadventures he and Bochra had gotten into, especially the ones that had happened after they had met Emmeline._

 _"I'm not a child anymore and neither are you Bochra," Patahk retorted. "We're supposed to act like adults now, and part of that means following orders. Whether we like them is irrelevant. Like the rest of the R'Mor, you do not seem to realize that."_

 _"You're defiantly a Rehu," Bochra repeated what he said earlier, "and no fun either."_

 _"Fun?" Patahk repeated and clapped a hand over his face. "Bochra, you're a Centurion. Act your rank."_

 _"It's not just about fun," Bochra interrupted with a suddenly serious expression. "You're one of my oldest friends and I don't want anything to happen to you. You're a high-ranking science officer, and you shouldn't leave the ship alone."_

 _"Bochra," Patahk warned. "You're a warrior, not part of the science division. Now get off the ship so I can leave."_

 _"You're right about one thing," Bochra observed without standing up. "I am a warrior. If you want me to leave and let you go on a mission that could end with you in a Federation prison for trespassing in the Neutral Zone then you'll have to make me leave."_

 _Patahk simmered. He knew that there was no way he could beat Emmeline's student in a fight, and Bochra knew it to. Bochra knew he was putting Patahk in a bad spot, but he the danger of this mission if the Federation found them went beyond that. Although Bochra wasn't sure how much he could do since he couldn't walk across space and morph through the walls of a ship to beat up an opposing crew, he refused to leave one of his friends to deal with such trouble alone._

 _The communication system of_ Pi _chimed, and Patahk looked between it and Bochra. He gave Bochra another scything look, and then stalked over and activated the communicator._

 _"This is_ Pi _," Patahk announced._

 _The person who responded was one of Tomalak's senior staff. "_ Pi _, are you ready to depart?"_

 _Patahk paused and glanced over his shoulder at Bochra, still sitting on the floor. He could report Bochra, but he decided not to. Bochra could be a real hassle if he wanted to, especially when he was right. Having Bochra with him made Patahk feel better – even if he didn't think there was much a close-range warrior could do if another starship targeted_ Pi _._

 _"Yes," Patahk sighed and sat in the chair. "I'm ready to depart_ Terix _."_

 _He fixed Bochra with a hard look to behave himself, and Bochra settled in a corner. Then Patahk began the departure sequence for the small science ship._

Bochra gasped as he jolted awake and sat up in bed. Sweat slicked his hair to his forehead and his breathing was ragged. He took several deep breaths and then flopped back down on the bed with a groan. For a moment, he lay there with the back of one hand resting on his forehead, feeling the heat. He hadn't realized then that when Patahk returned to _Terix_ from that mission, he would be dead.

After lying there for a few minutes he sat back up and looked at the sheets that had twisted around him. He freed himself and then swung his legs over his bed. His head was still bowed and he reached up almost absentmindedly to feel the bandage he wore over his injured eyes.

Another dream about _Pi_ and how he had let Patahk die. Would they ever end?

He stood and walked across the room to the replicator. Fortunately, the layout of this room was identical to the other rooms in the D'derdix-class so he was able to get there without hitting anything.

"A bowl of delvan pudding," Bochra ordered in a shaky voice, "chocolate."

He heard the sound of the replicator activating, then finishing, and slowly reaching forward for the bowl. Bochra almost put his fingers in the desert before he picked up the bowl and walked to the table he was sure the room had – there was a table in his room back on _Terix_ after all. After hitting his foot on a chair leg, he set the bowl on the table and then sat down in the chair that was responsible for injuring his foot.

A bowl of delvan pudding, Bochra had learned, did wonders to soothe his nerves after a nightmare. He had had plenty of nightmares as a child, as all children did, but they had come back with force ever since Patahk's death. Bochra silently stirred the pudding before eating a bite. The sweet chocolaty flavor instantly helped him calm down.

There was nothing he could have done to save Patahk, Bochra repeated what his father and Lavok had told him. It had all happened so fast. One moment he had been looking at a scanner and acting as Patahk's copilot, and the next… The next Romulan version of the warp drive had gone haywire and thrown their ship right into the surface of a planet. It was nothing short of a miracle that _Pi_ hadn't completely disintegrated when it hit the surface of Galorndon Core, a fact that was thanks to Patahk's piloting skill. Patahk had prevented the ship's destruction, saving Bochra, only for himself to die from injuries aboard the _Enterprise_ a few hours later.

Bochra's stomach hurt. It felt like the exposure to the memories had twisted it into a knot. Although Bochra had managed to save his father from Aerv he hadn't been able to save Patahk. For all his training with Emmeline, he hadn't been able to save Lavok either. He knew that the Romulan doctors on Hvaid's D'deridex would do everything they could to save him, but he also knew that their efforts would be futile. Assuming Lavok wasn't already dead, he would be very soon.

Bochra set the spoon back into his treat, appetite gone. "Computer, what time is it?"

"It is 1120," the computer relayed.

Bochra groaned. He hadn't meant to sleep in that long, but as Emmeline said, the only time you overslept was when your body needed it. Unwilling to trust himself to be able to walk back to the replicator without hitting something, Bochra leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over the chest.

After a few minutes of sitting there moping, Bochra stood and wandered back to the doorway. With a little trouble, he found the communicator on the wall and activated it.

"Bridge," he ordered the computer.

After a second, there was a voice on the other side.

"Bridge here," Ralaa, Vira's comm officer, responded. "Everything alright Bochra?"

Because of the amiable relations between Bochra and Vira's house, he had known her almost as long as he had known Delron and Emmeline. Most of Vira's command crew were those she had grown up with, so Bochra knew them through his friendship with her.

"I'm alright," Bochra promised her, "but I wanted to know about the rest of the _Terix_ crew. Has there been any report from them?"

"I don't know about individual crew members," Ralaa told him, "but that traitor Aerv is dead."

"What?" Bochra's voice jumped an octave and he swallowed before continuing in his normal voice. "What happened?"

"He took a felodesine tablet," Ralaa shrugged on her end, there not being much else to tell him.

Bochra turned the news over in his mind. Subconsciously, he touched the bandage over his eyes. After all the trouble Bochra had gone through to catch Aerv alive, he had managed to kill himself. He wondered how Aerv had managed to do so in security custody, and then realized he shouldn't be surprised. Aerv had been Tal Shiar, so it was naturally he would have allies. They had given him the means to die or killed him themselves for failure. It might be better this way, as the Tal Shiar would have taken him into custody the moment he reached Romulus to keep him from confessing and he would have vanished into the shadows, never to be punished for what he had done.

"Bochra," Ralaa interrupted him. "There is a message from Hvaid's D'deridex addressed to you. I believe it is Sienae. She's asking if you are all right. Sienae, I'm patching you into Bochra so you can ask him directly. Here he is."

Ralaa backed off, and after a few seconds, Sienae began to speak. "Bochra? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Bochra smiled, glad to hear his friends voice. "The doctor said my eyes will be fully healed by the time we reach home. It won't even scar. How is everyone else? How are you?"

"I have a mild concussion," Sienae said in irritation, "and the doctor is keeping me for overnight observation. Everyone else is mostly okay."

"Mostly?" Bochra repeated, leaning against the wall next to the communicator.

"Ele," Sienae said softly. "You know his right arm was damaged, right?"

"Yeah," Bochra nodded without concern. "Is it going to be awhile before it heals?"

"It won't," Sienae corrected, voice soft.

Bochra's eyebrows drew together. "I don't think I just heard you right. Did you say…?"

"His arm won't heal," Sienae repeated. "He's in surgery right now. There's no way to repair the damage so they're removing it. He's, he's going to get an artificial arm."

Bochra didn't respond. He wasn't able to. Although he knew Lavok would die, something he wasn't sure if he would ever accept, he found out that the rest of his friends were still in danger. Patahk had died because of his incompetence, the same reason Lavok was on his deathbed, and it seemed he had another casualty to add to his list.

It took some time before he was able to get past his closed throat and speak. "Is it because of what that human doctor did to him?"

"No," Sienae promised. "Dr. Crusher did nothing wrong. He'd... lose his arm either way. All she did was make it so it didn't hurt."

A part of Bochra was glad to hear that the humans weren't responsible since there seemed to be a few trustworthy ones, and another part was frustrated. It would have been so easy for him to turn the humans into scapegoats and blame them for this. He wasn't sure if he was more relieved or frustrated and he didn't know what to think of that either.

"He can't stay in the guard," was the first statement that passed through Bochra's lips.

"Yeah," Sienae agreed in a rough voice. "I know."

Because Ele was going to have a bio-synthetic limb, he wouldn't be allowed to join the Senate Guard as he and Bochra had originally planned to do once they completed the required five years in the military. A bio-synthetic limb was electronic, and it could be tampered with or shut down in circumstances that wouldn't affect a normal arm. It was too big a weakness for him to be allowed to do so.

"How's he taking it?" Bochra asked.

Even over the communicator, Bochra fancied he could hear her shrug. "He hasn't said a word, but he just found out a little bit ago. I don't think it's had time to process."

Bochra tilted his head back and banged it against the wall, trying to vent a little energy from the hot ember of anger that had flared in his chest. The humans weren't to blame for this. The culprits were fellow Romulans – _Tal Shiar_. He had been raised, as every Romulan child had been raised, being told that the Tal Shiar were here for the good of the empire and that they were the most loyal servants of the Praetor and the Empire. There was no greater honor or way to fulfillment of duty then to join their ranks. Now they were blowing up their own ships full of loyal Romulans.

It wasn't even a matter of _if_ they were behind it, but _how many_ were involved. Was it one faction working alone? Or was the entire organization planning some sort of coup? The ember in Bochra's chest grew hotter at the notion.

Sienae must have realized what the dangerous silence on Bochra's end meant because she interrupted him. "I'm surprised you haven't asked about Lavok yet."

"What about him?" Bochra demanded hotly, hands bunched into fists by his sides. "He's going to die because of the Tal Shiar just as so many others have. The next time I see one of those traitors I'm going to kill them."

"Bochra!" Sienae exclaimed, voice pitched upward in shock from his statement.

The Romulan Empire was a military culture, but it was also very skilled in espionage. You always had to watch what you said, and Bochra's words were treasonous. The message could easily be recorded. Despite his connection to House R'Mor and the Praetor, he could get in serious trouble for what he had just said.

Bochra snorted as if he didn't care about getting in trouble. He was half-hoping that the Tal Shiar would try to arrest him for treason. Then he could give them a sound piece of his mind. The other, saner, part of his mind won out and he lapsed into a dangerous silence that seemed to boil.

"Lavok's going to be okay," Sienae said in an attempt to distract Bochra before he said something worse.

The effect of her words was instantaneous, and all anger suddenly vanished as if a switch had been turned off. It was still there, but it was no longer on the front of his thoughts.

"What?" Bochra hissed.

Sienae exhaled softly in relief and continued speaking, not giving Bochra a chance to heat up again. "Lavok should be awake by the time Hvaid's ship returns home or soon after."

"But that's… that's impossible." Bochra whispered, not daring to allow himself to hope. He had let his hopes rise before in situations similar to this, and he always regretted it.

"No, it's not," Sienae assured him. "His vitals are stable. Bochra, it was the mindmeld."

"What?" Bochra asked in disbelief, voice loud.

"It has to have been," Sienae pressed her point.

Bochra needed a few seconds to digest everything. He knew that House Dar, Sienae's house, was a minor house that thought it was foolish for the Romulans to have bred their psychic abilities out of their genome just to differentiate themselves from the Vulcans. They had given up a huge advantage. Earlier "cleansing" projects had done such a good job of cleansing that there wasn't enough psychic DNA left in the Romulan species to breed a viable telepath. Her House was one of several trying to renew the psychic abilities, and kept records from before the Great Sundering on those psychic abilities.

"A mindmeld involve two participants becoming one being that shares one mind." Sienae tried to simplify what she had been raised learning so Bochra could understand it. "It's a type of synaptic pattern displacement that requires physical contact. When it happens, two beings become one. Their heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, all of their physical functions synchronize. The Vulcan shouldn't have been able to survive a mindmeld with Lavok while his lifesigns were so low, so she made it so she could survive one with him."

"And that meant stabilizing his lifesigns," Bochra finished, voice a whisper.

"I've never been taught anything like that growing up," Sienae's voice rose in pitch from excitement. "A mindmeld was able to save Lavok when nothing else could."

Bochra actually smiled. He knew his friend would be looking forward to telling her new find to the rest of her House. Then the smile faded, the shock starting to sink in. Patahk had died because of his incompetence, but Lavok would be all right. No thanks to me, he thought to himself.

Kaylee saved him, and she hadn't even known what she was doing. One of his friends would survive though. He should be thankful for that. If all went well, the Empire would survive as well.

"It's too bad we'll be getting home in time for Eitreih'hveinn," Bochra added, trying not to let the mood darken again.

There was a pause on Sienae's end and then Bochra heard her groan loudly. He smiled and she chuckled. One of the first things Emmeline had taught him when he had become her unofficial apprentice was how to laugh. When you laughed, it calmed your nerves and eased tension, helped relax everyone in a way nothing else could. It brought people out of depression and when you stepped back and looked at how foolish you were, it did wonders for your humility. The darker or worse the situation, the more important it was to laugh. Emmeline was right about that.

"Oh, lucky us," Sienae said sarcastically. "Do you want me to give you a full rundown?"

"No," Bochra shook his head, forgetting that Sienae couldn't see the movement. "That's enough for now."

"Hmm, still trying to wrap your head around the after effects of the mind meld, are you?" Sienae challenged.

Bochra huffed, and a snicker escaped Sienae's lips.

"Goodbye," Bochra said pointedly.

"Bye," Sienae retorted with a saucy air as Bochra closed the communication.

Ralaa looked at her keyboard hesitantly as Sienae respectfully said goodbye to the comm officer and shut down her comm unit. Bochra's frustration about the Tal Shiar had led to a careless comment about how he would thrash them. If a Tal Shiar heard the message, Bochra's vented frustration could be construed as treason. Since the Tal Shiar seemed to have it out for House R'Mor and its allies, she had no doubt it would be. Interfering with the Tal Shiar and protecting a possible traitor would get Ralaa charged with conspiracy.

After a moment, she sighed and then deleted the entire conversation between Sienae and Bochra. Her opinions towards the Tal Shiar might be divided, but her allegiance towards her commander was not. No one noticed her action, but her discretion would help Bochra in the not so distant future when the Tal Shiar brought charges of treason against him.

* * *

 **The next chapters takes place on Romulus, so no more talking on the starships. The plot moves forward. I thought it was sort of stalling, so I'll return the pace to normal.**


End file.
